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A HISTORY 



DELAWARE STATE SOCIETY 



CINCINNATI. 




i745-i«22. 



/E, MRS. CAMPBELL D. EMORY, (nEE TJLTON,) WASHINGTON, 0. C. 



PAPERS OF THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF DELAWARE. 

XIII. 



A HISTORY 

OF THE 

DELAWARE STATE SOCIETY 

OF THE 

CINCINNATI 

FROM ITS ORGANIZATION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

TO WHICH IS APPENDED 

A BRIEF ACCOUNT OF THE DELAWARE REGIMENTS 
IN THE WAR OF THE REVOLUTION. 



PERSONAL MEMOIRS OF OFFICERS, ROLLS OF SAME, ORATION 

BEFORE THE DELAWARE CINCINNATI ON THE 

DEATH OF WASHINGTON, ETC. 



BY 

HENRY HOBART BELLAS, LL.B., 

CAPTAIN U. S. ARMY, 

MEMBER PENNSYLVANIA HISTORICAL SOCIETY; HONORARY MEMBER NEW HAMPSHIRE 
HISTORICAL SOCIETY, ETC. 



THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF DELAWARE, 

WILMINGTON. 

I8 95 . 




** 



y± 



■': 



7 



PREFACE. 

The following paper on the Delaware State Society of 
the Cincinnati was read by request before the Delaware 
Historical Society in Wilmington, Delaware, on December 
17, 1894 (the Hon. Charles B. Lore, Chief-Justice of the 
State and President of the Historical Society, presiding); 
and, by resolution, was afterwards directed to be printed for 
the information of the members and others. 

The author, while acknowledging the uniform courtesy 
and valuable assistance which he has received from officers 
and members of the Society of the Cincinnati, has been 
greatly impeded in his work by the meagre sources of in- 
formation on the subject; finding at the commencement of 
his labors not only no record whatever of the Delaware 
Cincinnati, but that very few in the State were aware even 
of its prior existence. All the data in the following pages, 
therefore, have been ascertained only by patient and con- 
tinued research in all parts of the Union. 

While deeply gratified with the result accomplished, — viz., 
the subsequent and speedy revival of the Delaware Society 
of the Cincinnati, — the author cannot but be aware that 
both imperfections and errors still exist in this brief history ; 
therefore he must ask the indulgence of the reader, as well 
as the favor of an early notification of the proper correc- 
tions. 

H. H. Bellas. 

Germantown, Philadelphia, 

May 13, 1895. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

Preface 3 

History of the Delaware State Society of the Cincinnati . 7 

History of the Delaware Regiments in the Revolution . . 40 

Personal and Military Records of Original Members of the 

Delaware Cincinnati 53 

Roll of Officers of Colonel John Haslet's Regiment, Dela- 
ware State Troops (1776) 72 

Roll of Officers of Colonel David Hall's Regiment, Dela- 
ware Line (1777) 75 

Roll of Officers of Colonel David Hall's Regiment, Dela- 
ware Line (1780) 78 

Roll of Officers of Colonel Henry Neill's Regiment, Dela- 
ware Line (1780) 80 

Roll of Officers of Colonel Samuel Patterson's Battalion, 

Delaware Militia (1776) 81 

Roll of Officers of Captain Allen McLane's Partisan Com- 
pany, Delaware Troops 82 

Roll of Officers of Veteran Corps of Delaware ( 1802-18 12) . 8^ 

Oration on the Death of Washington, pronounced by Captain 
Edward Roche before the Delaware Cincinnati, February 
22, 1800 84 

Reorganization of the Delaware State Society of the Cin- 
cinnati, February 22, 1895 104 

Charter of the Delaware State Society of the Cincinnati . 109 



A HISTORY 

OF THE 

DELAWARE STATE SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI. 




On the sixteenth day of November, 
1782, the veteran Delaware battalion 
of the Continental Line, under Cap- 
tain William McKennan, — who in the 
closing days of the Revolutionary 
War had relieved its brave but dis- 
abled commander, Major Robert 
Kirkwood, the successor of Hall, 
Pope, and Vaughan, — in obedience 
to orders previously received to hold 
itself in readiness to march home from the southward 
in the Carolinas, started on its last long and wearisome 
journey of over seven hundred miles. Leaving its head- 
quarters on the Ashley River, where it then lay encamped, 
and taking up its march via Camden, Salisbury, and Peters- 
burg, it crossed the James River at Carter's Ferry, pushed 

NOTE. — The above illustration of the Cincinnati insignia is from a photo- 
graph of the eagle presented by General Lafayette to Surgeon James Tilton, 
the first President of the Delaware Society, and which is now in the posses- 
sion of his eldest representative, Colonel M'Lane Tilton, U. S. Marine Corps. 

7 



8 HISTORY OF THE DELAWARE STATE 

on through Maryland, and in exactly two months after 
the date of its departure from the main Southern army 
(January 17, 1783), it finally arrived — and with what feel- 
ings can be only imagined, not described — at Christiana 
Creek, near New Castle, in its native State. 

Here the battalion rendezvoused until October of the 
same year, when it was permanently disbanded; Captain 
McKennan, then in command, being appointed to settle 
and adjust the accounts of the officers and men of the bat- 
talion with the United States Auditor, as also 

" to issue both certificates for past services as well as land warrants to the 
individuals claiming, or their attorneys for them, which duty he performed 
to the general satisfaction." * 

Ramsey, in his " History of the United States," f says, — 

" This Delaware regiment was reckoned the most efficient in the Conti- 
nental army. It went into active service soon after the commencement of 
the contest with Great Britain and served through the whole of it. Courting 
danger wherever it was to be encountered, frequently forming part of a vic- 
torious army, but oftener the companions of their countrymen in the gloom 
of disaster, the Delawares fought at Brooklyn, at Trenton and at Princeton, 
at Brandy wine and at Germantown, at Guilford and at Eutaw, until at length, 
reduced to a handful of brave men, they concluded their services with the 
war in the glorious termination of the Southern campaign. . . ." 

Gates and Greene, Lee, Williams, and De Kalb had all 
borne testimony, as eye-witnesses, to the heroism of the 
Delaware line. 

* See Governor Caleb P. Bennett's "History of the Delaware Regiment," 
Perm. Mag. of Hist, and Biog., Vol. IX., No. 4 (1885) ; also " Niles' Reg- 
ister," September 2, 1843. 
f Vol. I., p. 209. 




1 752-1 Si; 



I POSSESSION OF OtSCEHOAVT, JOHN 



; /.<: 



SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI. 9 

It was impossible that its memory should be easily- 
forgotten, or that the ties formed in its long and arduous 
service should be readily sundered. Accordingly, when 
the moment for separation arrived, steps were taken for 
the formation of a branch of the Society of the Cincin- 
nati in accordance with the recommendation made by the 
General Society, instituted at Newburg, on the banks of 
the Hudson, May 13, 1783, and as had been already 
done by many of the remaining thirteen States. 

The object of the institution of the Cincinnati, formed 
by the officers of the American army at the close of the 
Revolution, and, in the words of the original Institution, — 

" to perpetuate as well the remembrance of this vast event, as the mutual 
friendships which have been formed under the pressure of a common 
danger and in many instances cemented by the blood of the parties;" — 

as well as the steps which led to its formation, are so 
well known and have been so often told, as to require 
here no repetition. 

It suffices merely to state that, following the example 
already set by the officers in other States, and preceding 
the final disbandment of the Del vare line at New Cas- 
tle, its officers, with other r at Wilmington, and on 
the fourth day of July, ^63, formed a State Society, 
or, to use the quaint, old style of the period and the 
original title of the State, the " Delaware State Society 
of the Cincinnati."* An organization was effected, officers 
elected, and in the month following the disbandment of 

* Original records of the Society. See also Scharf's " Hist. Delaware," 
Vol. I., p. 266. 



IO HISTORY OF THE DELAWARE STATE 

the battalion under the command of Captain McKennan, 
at New Castle, a circular letter was addressed to the 
General and other State Societies, notifying them of the 
preceding facts as well as addressing them on the then 
condition of the Union. 

This letter is not only interesting but valuable as being 
among the first recorded authoritative acts of the Society, 
and for this reason is cited in full with its accompanying 
letter of transmittal to the Connecticut State Society.* 

"Delaware State, November 6th, 1783. 
" Sir : 

" Enclosed with this, I transmit you a letter from the Delaware State 

Society of the Cincinnati and have to request you to lay it before your 

Society at their next meeting. 

" I am, Sir, with respect, 

"Your Most Hum. Servant, 

W. McKennan, Secretary. 

" The Secretary of Connecticut State Society of the Cincinnati." 

" Delaware State, November 6th, 1783. 
" Gentlemen : 

"Agreeably to those rules of the Cincinnati, which enjoin an annual 
correspondence of the State Societies, the Delaware State Society have now 
the pleasure to address you. 

* Proceedings of General Society of the Cincinnati, 1784; also Minutes 
of N. Y. State Society for February 3, and of Conn. State Society for 
December 17, 1784, before which latter Society the circular letter (having 
been previously acknowledged on March 30) was then read at this first 
meeting of the Connecticut Society. The original letter is now in the 
archives of the Connecticut Historical Society at Hartford, with which 
body the records of the Connecticut Cincinnati were deposited, after its 
so-called dissolution in 1804, by the Secretary, Lieutenant John Mix, "for 
safe keeping." 



SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI. II 

" The success with which the Society is likely to be established in every 
State, affords us a sensible pleasure. The attack, or rather the compliment 
paid us by the learned Cassius, we hope, will have no other effect than 
to excite us to laudable ambition, to engage our attention to maxims of 
prudence and to contribute in establishing us in those republican principles 
of virtue, honor, and honesty which we hope will ever be the more dis- 
tinguishing badges of the Cincinnati. 

" The union of the States affords an ample field for discussion, but we 
are confined to the compass of a letter. We know, that the misfortunes 
and destruction of confederacies flow not from usurpation, but from discord 
and disunion ; and that it is the advice of our best politicians, at this 
critical juncture, to brace the bonds of our Union. That bond, which we 
think most immediately to be regarded, is the peace establishment, as 
pointed out in General Washington's letter. The ablest civilians assure 
us, the confederation is not defective in this respect, and we consider our 
political union as very deeply interested in the support of this measure. 

" The Delaware State has complied with the requisitions of Congress, 
for paying the interest, and gradually sinking the principal of the public 
debt; and when the other States shall have agreed to this righteous 
measure, we hope, public credit will be restored, and that nothing will be 
wanting to make the whole community happy. 

" The officers of this State Society, chosen on the 4th of July last, are 

" Doctor James Tilton, President. 

"Major John Patten, Vice-President. 

" Captn. William McKennan, Secretary. 

"Lieutt. Edward Roche, Treasurer. 

" " Stephen McWilliam, Ass't Treasurer. 

"By order of the Society, 




12 



HISTORY OF THE DELAWARE STATE 



The complete Roll of the Society at this time bore the 
names of thirty-seven (37) officers of the Delaware and 
Pennsylvania lines and Continental staff, or their repre- 
sentatives. They are recorded as follows (the signatures 
being given as written) : 



Dollars. 


Name. 


Rank. 


75- 


{David) D. Hall, 


Colonel. 


60. 


{Joseph) J. Vaughan, 


Lieut-Col. 


50. 




John Patten, 


Major. 


40. 




Robert Kirkwood, 


Maj. by Brv't 


40. 




James Moore, 


« « 


40. 




John Learmonth, 


<( « 


40. 




Peter Jaquett, 


Captain. 


40. 




Wm. McKennan, 


u 


40. 




George Purvis, 
William Adams, 


« 






Son of Captain Nathan Adams, who was k. 


40. 




Harry Duff, 


Captain. 


30. 


{John Vance) John V. Hyatt, 


Lieutenant. 


30. 




James Campbell, 


tt 


30. 


{Caleb Prew) Caleb P. Bennett, 


tt 


30. 




Joseph Hosman, 


« 


3°- 




Charles Kidd, 


tt 


30. 




Edward Roche, 


tt 


30- 




Thomas Anderson, 


tt 


— 


« 


Joseph Haslet, 








Eldest son of Colonel John 


Haslet, who was k. 


30. 




Stephen McWilliam, 


Lieutenant. 


30. 




John Piatt, 


it 


60. 


{Reuben) R. Gilder, 


Surgeon. 



SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI. 



13 



Dollars. 


Name. 


Rank. 


90. 


James Tilton, 


Hosp'l Surg'n. 


60. 


Chas. Pope, 


late Lt.-Col. 


40. 


Allen McLane, 


Captain. 


60. 


George Monro, 


Surg'n 6 V. R. 


30. 


{Joseph) Josh. Driskill, 


Lieutenant. 


60. 


James Jones, 


Surg'n 4 P. R. 


90. 


Henry Latimer, 


Hosp'l Surg'n. 


40. 


Enoch Anderson, 


late Captain. 


40. 


Joseph Anderson, 


Maj.byBrev't. 





William Anderson, 


Ensign. 


30. 


David Kirkpatrick, 


Capt. Lieut. 


30. 


Nathaniel Twining, 


late Lieuten't. 


9O. 


Ebenezer Augustus 


Smith, Hosp'l Surg'n. 


40. {Daniel Jenifer) Daniel J. Adams, 


late Major. 


40. 


Nathaniel Mitchell, 


Major.* 



Many other names of surviving officers of the Delaware 
line are missing from the above roll, some by reason of lack 
of eligibility, from not 
having served the requi- 
site time, and a number 
probably not approving 
of the institution of the 
Order, as was also the case in other States. Such, for in- 




* This list is from original parchment roll of the Delaware State Society. 
On a list in the possession of the General Society, dated 1788, there are 
slight variations in one or two of the names, as is also the case in memoran- 
dum made by the Hon. Hamilton Fish, President-General, in the Records of 
the New York State Society, and in list copied (in 1846) by the then secre- 
tary of the Pennsylvania Society, and in possession of the latter to-day. 



14 



HISTORY OF THE DELAWARE STATE 




'flme/Uu 



01O 




i^ZHT^Z^svcZICk. 



stance, are the names of Lieutenant Edward Armstrong, 

Lieutenant - Colonel 
Gunning Bedford, Cap- 
tain John Corse, Lieu- 
tenant Daniel Powell 
Cox, Captain Henry- 
Darby, Major Thomas 
Macdonough, Ensign 
Benjamin McLane, 
Captain Paul Queen- 
ault, Lieutenant Elijah 
Skillington, Lieutenant 
John Vaughan, Captain 
John Willson, and 
others.* 

At a meeting of the 
Society held a few 
months later (February, 1784), the minutes, as well as the 
daily papers of the time,f in addition to recording "the 
election of the following gentlemen as officers of the Dela- 
ware State Society of the Cincinnati for the present year" 
(the list being the same as already given in the circular 
letter), add the additional information that 

" Dr. Tilton and Major James Moore were also appointed 
delegates to attend the first General Meeting of the Cincin- 




* See Heitman's " List of Officers of Delaware Line at close of Revolu- 
tionary War," p. 472; also Scharf's "Hist. Delaware," Vol. L, and White- 
ley's "Hist. Delaware Revolutionary Soldiers," 1875. 

fSee Freeman's "Journal and N. A. Intelligencer," Phila., Pa., March 3, 
1784. 





1 730-1 797. 



1 PORTRAIT IN POSSESSION OF FAMILY. 



SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI. 1 5 

nati at Philadelphia, on Tuesday, May 4, of the same 
year." At this meeting these delegates voted, with the 
others present, for the adoption of the proposed "Amended" 
Institution of the Society, but which was never finally rati- 
fied by all the States, and resulted in the original Institu- 
tion of 1783 remaining in force to the present day. Dr. 
Tilton represented Delaware on the committee appointed at 
this meeting to make the revision proposed. 

On the second day of the meeting (May 5), the mem- 
bers of the several States having been requested by General 
Washington, the President-General, to declare the ideas 
which prevailed in their States in regard to the Institution 
(it having been, as is well known, the subject of fierce at- 
tack by its opponents since its foundation the previous 
year), we find it stated in the proceedings that " Doctor 
Tilton for Delaware informed the Society that the principal, 
and indeed the only, enemies of the Cincinnati were among 
the class of people denominated Tories." * 

The circular letter already alluded to of the Delaware 
State Society of the Cincinnati, dated November 6, 1783, 
was also presented at this meeting by General Knox, the 
former Secretary-General, and read by the Secretary pro 
tem.\ 

The next meeting of the Society was held at Wilming- 
ton on July 4, 1785, at which the same officers as of the 
preceding year were re-elected. The additional record of 
the proceedings is as follows : " The Order of Cincinnati 

* Winthrop Sargent's "Journal of Cincinnati General Meeting, 1784." 
"Penn. Hist. Soc'y Pub.," Vol. VI., p. 80. 

f Proceedings of General Society of the Cincinnati, 1784. 



1 6 HISTORY OF THE DELAWARE STATE 

being convened at this place (the 4th July, 1785), the 
anniversary of the Independence of America, a dinner was 
prepared for them at Captain O'Flinn's tavern,* and a num- 
ber of the steady friends of the American Revolution 
being invited to dine on the occasion, the day was spent 
with the utmost festivity and good order. At the dinner- 
time the following toasts, enlivened by the firing of 
cannon from the beautiful eminence of this borough, were 
drank : 

1. May the anniversary of this day forever rejoice the sons of America. 

2. The United States of America. 

3. His most Christian Majesty. 

4. The United Netherlands. 

5. The Delaware State. 

6. General Washington. 

7. May Congress be vested with full and efficient powers to complete the 

happiness of America. 

8. May the principles of Republican freedom universally flourish. 

9. The glorious memory of those heroes who fell in vindication of the 

American Revolution. 

10. Immortality to the Sons of Cincinnati. 

11. May the virtues of the illustrious farmer be as well grounded as his 

ploughshare. 

* This tavern, named at different periods the "Sign of the Ship," the 
"Happy Retreat," and still later the "Lafayette," stood at the southeast cor- 
ner of Market and Third Streets till 1835. Patrick O'Flinn, who had been a 
captain of militia during the Revolution, was the proprietor of the place when 
known as the " Happy Retreat" from 1789 till his death in 1818, and in such 
latter capacity had entertained at different times, when passing through Wil- 
mington, Washington, Jefferson, John Adams and wife, Louis Philippe, Aaron 
Burr, Commodore Perry, and other distinguished guests. As seen, it was a 
favorite meeting-place of the Delaware Society of the Cincinnati. 



SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI. 1 7 

12. May the sons and daughters of Columbia join to transmit to latest ages 

this day's birthright. 

13. Success to the trade and commerce of Wilmington." * 

In 1786 the Society met at New Castle, the final rendez- 
vous and the place of disbandment of the Delaware line. 
The record is as follows: "New Castle, July 4, 1786, the 
Society of the Cincinnati of the State of Delaware met at 
this place and elected the following gentlemen officers for 
the current year : 

" President, Doctor James Tilton. 

" Vice-President, Major John Patten. 

" Secretary, Captain William McKennan. 

" Treasurer, Captain Edward Roche. 

" Assistant Treasurer, Major James Moore. 

" Doctor James Tilton, Major James Moore, Major Na- 
thaniel Mitchell, Major Daniel Jenifer Adams and Captain 
William McKennan were elected delegates to the General 
Meeting of the Society at Philadelphia, on May 7, 1787." 
It may be added here that this is the only time that we 
find the full number of delegates required, representing the 
State Society at the General Meetings. 

At this meeting, Delaware had the honor of having one 
of its delegates — Dr. James Tilton — appointed on a com- 
mittee of three, " to prepare rules and regulations for con- 
ducting the business of the General Meeting." These 
rules, reported by the committee a couple of days later, 
were unanimously agreed to by the General Society.f It 

* See, also, Penna. Packet, Phila., July 8, 1785, Penna. Journal and 
Weekly Adv'fr, and Penna. Evening Herald, Phila., July 9, 1785. 
f Proceedings of General Society of the Cincinnati, 1787. 



1 8 HISTORY OF THE DELAWARE STATE 

was also at this meeting that the committee appointed " to 
fix and report the quota of each State Society according to 
its membership, to operate as a rule for all apportionments 
which it may be necessary to make in the course of this 
meeting," reported the rule for Delaware to be in the pro- 
portion of 15 to 1000 parts; the ratio varying from 172, as 
a maximum for Virginia, to 11, as a minimum for Georgia.* 
The record continues : " The day was afterwards spent 
in festivity with a number of gentlemen of the town and 
country, when the following toasts were drank : 

1. The United States. 

2. The Delaware State. 

3. General Washington. 

4. The President of this State. 

5. May this anniversary be ever marked with joy, as its birth was with 

glory. 

6. The allies of America in the time of her glorious trouble. 

7. The memory of our brethren who fell in the struggle. 

8. May the supporters of the Independence of America be ever united 

in the basis of republican principles. 

9. Encouragement and success to the agriculture, manufactories, and 

commerce of America. 

10. May liberality of sentiment, benevolence, charity, and good-will to 

all mankind ever pervade the minds of Americans and influence 
their conduct. 

11. Those ladies who have ever countenanced and encouraged the authors 

and supporters of American Independence. 

12. May the liberties of America be propagated to the latest generations. 

13. The memory of Cincinnatus; may his sons ever perpetuate his spirit 

with his name."j- 

* Proceedings of General Society of the Cincinnati, 1787. 
f See, also, Penna. Packet, Phila., July 7, and Penna. Evening Herald, 
Phila., July 8, 1786. 



SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI. 1 9 

We find no record of any State meeting in 1787, though 
probably one was held as usual on the national anniversary 
and the same officers continued in office, but in the follow- 
ing year (1788) the Society met again at Wilmington, 
which, indeed, with few exceptions, seems now to have 
been the principal meeting-place of the Society during the 
entire remainder of its existence. 

Of this last-mentioned meeting it is stated : " The State 
Society of the Cincinnati met at this place (Wilmington) on 
the 4th inst, and chose the following gentlemen officers of 
the Society for the current year : 

"President, Doctor James Tilton. 

" Vice-Preside?it, Major John Patten. 

" Secretary, Captain William McKennan. 

" Treasurer, Captain Edward Roche. 

"Assistant Treasurer, Doctor George Monro. 

" A sermon by the Rev. Doctor Wharton and an oration 
by Doctor George Monro were delivered in the forenoon, 
both very suitable to the occasion. The Society and citi- 
zens of the place spent the afternoon in festive joy, and 
drank the following toasts : 

1. The wisdom that directed and the sword that obtained the indepen- 

dence of America. 

2. The new Constitution. 

3. The ten States that have adopted the new Constitution. 

4. May the three remaining States soon follow the noble example first set 

by Delaware. 

5. The agriculture of America. 

6. May the wings of commerce be soon clipped by the growing manu- 

factures of America. 

7. Success to science and seminaries of learning. 



20 HISTORY OF THE DELAWARE STATE 

8. May the liberality of the French monarch in his commercial regula- 

tions be copied by the British king. 

9. The friends of freedom and patrons of liberty throughout the world. 

10. Farmer Washington, may he, like a second Cincinnatus, be called from 

the plough to rule a great people. 

11. The memory of all those who fell during the American Revolution. 

12. The Delaware State. 

13. May our utmost hopes and wishes be exceeded in the blessings of the 

new Constitution."* 

The only delegate representing Delaware at an extra 
General Meeting of the Society held at Philadelphia on 
May 5, of this year, appears to have been Major James 
Moore, though " credentials appointing delegates from 
Delaware, namely : Major John Patten, Major James 
Moore, and Captain William McKennan, one of whom 
was to be a representation," were filed with the Secretary 
at the meeting and probably explains the solitary repre- 
sentation. The following return of members of the 
different State Societies was likewise produced and filed 
at this meeting : 

yfi 5jC 5jC 5jC ?|C ?(C 

" Cincinnati of Delaware .... Total, 27," 

****** 

thus showing a loss already of over a quarter of the 
number of members on the original roll of the Society.f 
For the year 1789, the records are again silent, but the 
same officers retained their positions in the Society for 
that year, as we still find them holding over and re-elected 
once more in 1790. 

* See, also, in Penna. Packet, Phila., July 12, letter from Wilmington, Del., 
dated July 9, 1788. 

f Proceedings of General Society of the Cincinnati, 1788. 



SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI. 21 

In that year, under date of July 5, it is stated: "On 
Monday, the 5th instant, the Society of Cincinnati for the 
State of Delaware met at the house of Captain O'Flinn, 
in this borough, to celebrate the anniversary of Indepen- 
dence, and at eleven o'clock marched in procession to the 
Academy, where divine service was performed by the Rev. 
Lawrence Girelius ; after which a very ingenious and well- 
adapted discourse was delivered by the president of the 
Society to a large and brilliant audience; at the conclu- 
sion of which a Federal salute of thirteen cannon was 
given under the direction of Captain Hugh Montgomery. 
Then the Society returned to Captain O'Flinn's and par- 
took of a collation which was provided and drank the 
following toasts, with a salute to each, viz. : 

1. The President of the United States. 

2. The Senate and House of Representatives. 

3. The Vice-President. 

4. The King and National Assembly of France. 

5. The fair patriots of America. 

6. The Society of the Cincinnati. 

7. The Delaware State. 

8. Agriculture. 

9. Peace and free trade with all the world. 

10. Manufacture. 

11. May virtue and merit ever be the best claims to distinction and regard. 

12. May the citizens of America ever pay due respect to religion, morality, 

and equal laws. 

13. Success to population and industry. 

" To which were added the following toasts by the rev- 
erend clergy then present : 



22 HISTORY OF THE DELAWARE STATE 

May America be an asylum to all the distressed people of Europe. 
Patriotism without party and religion without hypocrisy. 
May the Americans ever be valiant in war and subservient to their laws in 
peace." * 

At the third triennial meeting of the General Society in 
Philadelphia, May 4, 1790, Major John Patten appears to 
have been the only representative from Delaware, probably 
under the same rule as adopted for the General Meeting 
of the Society in 1788^ 

Three delegates were, however, elected at the annual 
meeting of 1790, to represent the Delaware Society at an 
extra General Meeting of the Cincinnati held in Philadel- 
phia, May 2, 1 79 1, viz.: Doctor James Tilton, Major John 
Patten, and Captain William McKennan, the President, Vice- 
President, and Secretary respectively, of the Society. This 
meeting was called for the purpose of urging the States 
to send full representations at the next triennial meeting 
of the General Society to be held in Philadelphia on the 
first Monday of May (the 6th), 1793, for the final adoption 
of the alterations proposed in the Institution of the Cincin- 
nati as well as to recommend the expediency of the State 
Societies obtaining acts of incorporation to secure their 
funds for the charitable objects for which originally de- 
signed. Two of the delegates from Delaware, Major Patten 
and Captain McKennan, were appointed by the chair 
(General Knox) on the Committee to examine the cre- 
dentials of the delegates from the several States at this 

* See, also, in Federal Gazette, Phila., July 14, letter from Wilmington, Del., 
dated July 10, 1790. 

f Proceedings of General Society of the Cincinnati, 1790. 




i 746-1800. 



" DESCENDANT, H3N LEONARD EUiENE WALES, WILMINGTON, 



SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI. 23 

meeting.* It was the last one at which the Delaware 
State Society was represented, no record appearing here- 
after of any delegates accredited to that State being 
present at the General Meetings of the Cincinnati. 
The minutes of the Society for 1793 are as follows: 

"Wilmington, July 4, 1793. 

" The State Society of the Cincinnati met in this borough 
on the 4th instant. At 12 o'clock a brilliant assembly 
convened at the College, and the occasion being solemnized 
with prayers by the Rev. Mr. Clarkson, Captain McKen- 
nan, agreeably to appointment, pronounced an oration most 
acceptable to the citizens. 

"The Society and many respectable citizens then pro- 
ceeded to Mr. Brinton's tavernf and dined together in a 
manner expressive of heartfelt joy and satisfaction at 
another return of our national birthday. After dinner 
the following toasts were drank : 

1. The day that gave birth to a nation and set the example of freedom 

and independence to the world. 

2. The United States — may they enjoy the blessings of peace, union, and 

freedom to the latest ages. 

3. The President of the United States — may long life, health, happiness, 

and the confidence of his country reward his eminent services. 

4. The Vice-President and the Congress of the United States— may wis- 

dom mark their councils and integrity their conduct. 

5. The memory of those heroes and patriots who fell in the cause of 

independence. 

* Proceedings of General Society of the Cincinnati, 1791. 

f This tavern, known as " The Indian King," stood at the southeast corner 
of Market and Fourth Streets, and, under the proprietorship of David Brinton, 
was long a noted inn. 



24 HISTORY OF THE DELAWARE STATE 

6. The friends of freedom and lovers of independence in all parts of the 

world. 

7. The French nation — may it soon enjoy the blessings of peace and a 

free Constitution. 

8. Confusion to the counsels of despots, and may tyranny be banished 

the earth. 

9. A union of all free countries to save Poland from the rapacious bands 

of all spoilers. 

10. May equal liberty, equal rights, and a government of laws long be the 

boast of America. 

11. May America receive into her bosom and cherish the oppressed from 

all parts of the world. 

12. Success to the agriculture, manufactures, and commerce of America. 

13. The arts and sciences, and all who love and promote them. 

14. Neutrality to America, the best means to promote her happiness and 

prosperity. 
15- All our friends and brothers who are doing homage to liberty in cele- 
bration of the epoch of our independence." * 

In 1795 the Society met once more at New Castle : 

" Wilmington, July 8 (1795). 

" The State Society of the Cincinnati met at New Castle 
on Saturday, the 4th instant, and chose the following offi- 
cers for the current year: 

"President, Major John Patten. 

" Vice-President, Major Peter Jaquett. 

" Secretary, Captain William McKennan. 

" Treasurer, Captain Edward Roche. 

" Assistant Treasurer, Doctor George Monro. 

"The Society then adjourned to dinner, and after dinner 
drank the following toasts : 

* See, also, General Advertiser, Phila., Pa., July 9, 1793. 



SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI. 25 

1. This Day — may the remembrance of it and the glorious effects pro- 

duced by it never be obliterated from the minds of America. 

2. The United States — may the people thereof be ever mindful of 

this political truth, That an incessant attention to the administra- 
tion of government can alone give permanency to freedom. 

3. The State of Delaware — may the honest industry of its citizens 

be equalled by the virtuous patriotism of her representatives. 

4. The President and Congress of the United States — may they 

with true wisdom and unshaken fortitude remain uninfluenced, 
unbiassed, and unawed by any foreign nation whatever. 

5. The People of France — may the storm which has threatened them 

with destruction speedily subside, and the sacred rights of liberty 
and property be established among them on a solid foundation. 

6. The United Provinces — may they avail themselves of the present 

opportunity afforded them by the prowess of the French arms to 
establish a free and happy government. 

7. The memory of the heroic citizens of Delaware who fell in defence 

of American Independence. 

8. Arts and Sciences — may the citizens of all free governments remem- 

ber that Information is the nurse of Freedom and Improvement. 

9. Peace and Commerce — a general commercial intercourse with every 

nation on earth upon honorable principles and reciprocal interests. 

10. May the triumph of Freedom be the harbinger of Peace to the nations 

of Europe. 

11. May all free governments rightly comprehend their mutual as well as 

individual interests. 

12. The American Fair — may their importance be enhanced from a just 

sense of liberty and equality. 

13. Civilization, instead of extirpation, to our Indian brethren. 

14. May America, in forming new political engagements, never sacrifice 

her honor by injustice to her old friends. 

15. May the Temple of Freedom be established on the ruin of thrones, 

and all the nations enter its gates." 

But the political excitement of the times required a still 
stronger and more positive expression of opinion by the 



26 HISTORY OF THE DELAWARE STATE 

participants of the occasion, and the following "volun- 
teers," we find, were added : 

" By Doctor Tilton — No treaty with Britain, but in lieu thereof a non-im- 
portation agreement. 

By Doctor Alexander — The people of Great Britain, may they shortly 
experience a revolution in the administration of their government. 

By Major Bush — The ten patriotic senators who refused to ratify the 
British treaty. 

By James McCullough — The Congress of 1776, who gave birth to this Day. 

By Major Jaquett, Vice-President — John Jay, may he enjoy the benefits 
of a Purgatory."* 

On July 4, 1797, it is stated, "the Delaware State Society 
of the Cincinnati assembled and partook of a dinner pro- 
vided for the purpose, after which a number of toasts were 
drank ;" (similar, no doubt, in character to the above).f 

The last regular election of officers and stated meeting 

of the Society found recorded is in 1799, and reads as 

follows : 

"Wilmington, July 4, 1799. 

" The Society of the Cincinnati for the State of Delaware 
met at this place and elected the following officers for the 
current year : 

"President, Major John Patten. 

" Vice-President, Major Peter Jaquett. 

" Secretary, Captain Edward Roche. 

" Treasurer, Doctor George Monro. 

" Assistant Treasurer, Captain Caleb P. Bennett."! 

* See, also, Independent Gazetteer, Phila., Pa., July II, and N. Y. Journal, 
N. Y., July 15, 1795. 

f See, also, Independent Gazetteer, Phila., Pa., July II, 1797. 

% See, also, Federal Gazette and Phila. Evening Post, Phila., Pa., July 8, 
1799. 




SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI. 27 

The only entry for the following year (1800) records 
that " Captain Edward Roche, secretary of the Delaware 
State Society of the Cincinnati, prepared and delivered a 
funeral oration on the death of General George Washing- 
ton ; prepared at the 

request of the Society, [^lrt/{$^(JpZ) £,y 
and pronounced in the 
Second Presbyterian 
Church in Wilmington on the twenty-second day of 
February, 1800. Judge Bedford and Major Cass were 
masters of the procession and ceremony."* 

The Society, however, still kept up its membership. We 
find twenty (20) names yet on the roll in 1 801, as follows : 

Colonel Joseph Vaughan. 

Major Robert Kirkwood. 

Major James Moore. 

Major Daniel Jenifer Adams. 

Major Peter Jaquett 

Doctor James Tilton. 

Doctor George Monro. 

Captain Henry Duff. 

Captain Allen McLane. 

Captain Thomas Kean. 

* For oration and full account of this interesting ceremony, see Appendix 
K ; also, " Reminiscences of Wilmington," by Miss E. Montgomery, pp. 
297-98. The procession formed in the Town Hall, on Market Street (the 
previous arrangements having been made in the old Academy, see note, p. 
35), and moved down to Second Street, up French Street, and thence to the 
stone meeting-house, known as the Second Presbyterian Church, at the cor- 
ner of Walnut and Fifth Streets, where the ceremonies were held. The 
Judge Bedford named above was Gunning Bedford, Junior, the Major Cass 



28 HISTORY OF THE DELAWARE STATE 

Captain Caleb P. Bennett. 

Surgeon Reuben Gilder. 

Lieutenant John Piatt. 

Lieutenant John Vance Hyatt. 

Lieutenant Joseph Hosman. 

Lieutenant Stephen McWilliam. 

Lieutenant Charles Kidd. 

Lieutenant Joseph Driskill. 

J. Mayo. 

John Jones.* 
The following year, however, we find one of its most 
prominent members, Colonel Allen McLane, petitions the 
Pennsylvania Society, at its annual meeting at Francis' 

was Major Jonathan Cass, of the Third U. S. Infantry, stationed at the time 
at, and in command of, the old U. S. Arsenal near Wilmington. 

The above-mentioned oration, in the possession of the author, is endorsed 
on the title-page in the handwriting of Captain Roche, as follows : 

"To 

Miss Betsy Donaldson, 

as a Memorial of her 

Polite and Patriotic attentions 

on the 22d February, 1800, 

in Honor of the Memory of 

George Washington. 

By order of the Society of the Cincinnati 

of the State of Delaware. 

Edwd. Roche, Sec'y." 
A copy of this oration is now in the collection of the New York Histor- 
ical Society. See " Bulletin, Phila. Library Co., Phila., Pa.," 1851, p. 51. 

The autograph of Captain Roche, under his portrait in silhouette (opposite 
page 85), is a facsimile of that in the above dedication. 

* Records of Delaware Society of Cincinnati. See, also, Scharf 's " Hist. 
Delaware," Vol. I., p. 266. 



SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI. 29 

Hall in Philadelphia, July 5, 1802, to be admitted to mem- 
bership in that Society, by reason of the Delaware Society, 
of which he was a former member, having ceased to exist. 
The wording of his petition is plaintive. He states that 

" In the commencement of the struggle for the Independence of America, 
he resided with his family in one of the three lower counties then annex'd to 
Pennsylvania, now denominated the State of Delaware, and that after the 
contest he returned with his family to said State, the better to enable him to 
support them, and that at that time it was more convenient for him to meet 
the Society then assembled in said State, and that he did subscribe his name, 
paid his dues, received his diploma and has since conformed to the rules of 
said Society, as fully appears by the enclosed paper. But that he has to 
lament a great falling off in said Society owing to death and desertion, so 
that it is no more ; and therefore requests he might be permitted to assemble 
with his companions in arms, the members of the Society of Pennsylvania, 
and be considered as a member of the same from this time." 

To this is appended the certificate of the Secretary of 
the Delaware Society, as follows : 

" I do hereby certify to whom it may concern that Major Allen McLane 
is a member of the Society of the Cincinnati in the State of Delaware : That 
he has subscribed and paid one month's pay thereto, and has generally con- 
formed to the Rules and orders thereof. 

" In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal this thirtieth 
day of June in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and two."* 



[Seal.] 




* Archives of Penna. State Society of the Cincinnati. 



30 HISTORY OF THE DELAWARE STATE 

The applicant was accordingly admitted to the Penn- 
sylvania Society with the proviso that his month's pay be 
transferred at the same time. The Treasurer's account in 
the latter Society accordingly has the following entry: 

" 1802. August 5. To cash from A. McLane, being 
his dividend from 

" The Delaware Society . . $43.50."* 

The exact date when the Delaware Society was dis- 
solved, or, to speak more correctly, " when, on the informa- 
tion of some of its members, a portion of the members 
of the Delaware State Society of the Cincinnati had voted 
to dissolve that Society and distributed its funds/'f is not 
easily settled. No date is given in the report by the Com- 
mittee in 181 1 appointed "to ascertain the present situation 
of the several State Societies of the Cincinnati," it simply 
calls attention to " the inconsiderate act of a portion of 
the members of one or more State Societies in dissolving- 
their official connection as members of the Cincinnati and 
in distributing those funds which had long ceased to be 
individual property, or liable to any but their original 
appropriation."! 

The Committee's report was unanimously adopted by 
the General Society, and the Secretary-General was in- 
structed " to forward a draft of the circular letter which the 
Committee had submitted with its report, to the Presidents 

* See " Records of Penna. State Society of the Cincinnati," 1891, pp. 
60, 61. 

f See Report of Col. Elias Boudinot, Chairman of Committee, Proceed- 
ings of General Society of the Cincinnati, Aug. 9, 181 1. 

\ Ibid. 




*ZSZ£- 



1746-1829. 



POSSESSION OF FA 



SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI. 3 1 

of the respective State Societies, or to such member thereof 
as would cause it to be laid before said Society." 

The circular for Delaware, although that State Society had 
dissolved, was duly authenticated by the President-General 
and Secretary-General, " by unanimous order in General 
Meeting, and sent to the care of one of its former most 
influential original members" {query, Allen McLane?), 
urging " as the best corrective, despite its dissolution and the 
distribution of its funds, the immediate renewal of that 
endeared intercourse," and earnestly recommending to that 
State Society to send delegates to a special meeting 
appointed for the following year (thus clearly showing the 
so-called dissolution of the Delaware Society was never 
accepted by the General body). In consequence, however, 
of the decease or dispersion of the Delaware members, the 
foregoing recommendation of the General Society was found 
impossible of execution.* 

At a meeting of the Standing Committee of the New 
York State Society of the Cincinnati on August 2, 1804, 
a letter was read from Edward Roach (Roche f), late 
Secretary of the Delaware State Society, stating that " that 
Society had been dissolved long since and the funds been 
divided among its members. "f This letter is lost from the 
archives of the New York Society, as is also the circular 

* See Report of Col. Elias Boudinot, Chairman of Committee, Proceed- 
ings of General Society of the Cincinnati, Aug. 9, 181 1 ; also, "Precedents 
and Ordinances of General Society of the Cincinnati, 1783-1885," by A. B. 
Gardiner, LL.D., pp. 10, II. 

f " Hist. Society of the Cincinnati," by Hon. Hamilton Fish, 1884, p. 47. 
Also, " Records of N. Y. State Society of the Cincinnati." 



32 HISTORY OF THE DELAWARE STATE 

letter of the Delaware Society of November 6, 1783 
(before cited), which was read before the New York Society 
on February 3, 1784, and a Committee appointed, consist- 
ing of Brigadier- General Philip Van Cortlandt, Lieutenant- 
Colonel Edward Antill, and Lieutenant-Colonel Richard 
Piatt, to draft an answer. This Committee reported their 
reply to the Standing Committee on February 9, 1784, when 
it was adopted, signed by the President of the New York 
Society and forwarded to the Delaware Society, but as 
these letters were not recorded in the New York Society's 
minutes, their full context cannot be now ascertained.* 

In a memorandum presented to the Massachusetts 
Society of the Cincinnati, in June, 18 12, we find it stated 
that " the Society was dissolved in Delaware by a formal 
vote in July, 1802, and the funds were resumed in due pro- 
portions by those who had furnished them."f 

Mr. Lloyd P. Smith, late librarian of the Philadelphia Li- 
brary Company, in his "Bulletin" of 1885, states: "The Dela- 
ware Society was dissolved about the year 1804, the more 
attached of the members carrying their share of the funds 
into the Pennsylvania Society. The archives are lost (?)."| 

Per contra, Scharf, in his very complete and recent " His- 
tory of Delaware," says "the Society of the Cincinnati in 
Delaware continued in Wilmington for over half a century, 
and then ceased to exist,"§ while the exact date has been 

* " Records of N. Y. State Society of the Cincinnati." 
f " Hist, of N. C. State Society of Cincinnati," by E. G. Daves, 1894, p. 
14. Also, " Records of Mass. State Society of Cincinnati." 
\ " Bulletin Phila. Library Co., Phila., Pa.," 1851, p. 51. 
\ Scharf 's " Hist. Delaware," Vol. I., p. 266. 



SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI. 33 

recently fixed, by a most excellent authority in another of 
the State Societies of the Cincinnati, as being as late as 
1828.* 

On July 4, 1 82 1, Mr. John R. Latimer, eldest son of 
Dr. Henry Latimer, an original member of the Delaware 




Society, was admitted a member of the Pennsylvania So- 
ciety. The Treasurer's account has the following entry : 

" 1822. June 24. By cash rec'd from 

"J. R. Latimer . . 0i2O."t 

These two preceding-named admissions (Colonel Allen 
McLane and John R. Latimer, by descent), with that of 
Major James Moore, afterwards Assistant Treasurer of the 
Pennsylvania Society (1798- 1800) J appear to be the only 
cases where the Delaware Society was afterwards repre- 
sented in another State Society. 

A long lapse of time now ensues, in which no reference 
is made to the Delaware Society by the General Society 
in its triennial proceedings, other than to repeatedly deplore 
the fact of the non-existence of this with other extinct or 
dormant State Societies. Finally, a committee having been 

* Richard M. McSherry, Esq., Treasurer of Maryland State Society of the 
Cincinnati. 

f " Records of Penna. State Society of the Cincinnati," 1891, p. 66. 

\ Ibid., p. 77. See, also, Winthrop Sargent's "Journal General Meeting 
of Cincinnati Society, 17S4." 



34 HISTORY OF THE DELAWARE STATE 

appointed by the General Society to examine documents, 
etc., it reports as follows, at the meeting of the General 
Society in Boston, Mass., May 27, 1857 : 

" Of the Delaware papers no trace has yet been discov- 
ered."* 

Just three years after this report, however, the original 
roll of the Delaware Society, containing the names of all 
the members, with their respective ranks, the amount paid 
in by each, together with the total fund of the Society (a 
little over fifteen hundred dollars), was discovered — on the 
authority of Hon. Hamilton Fish — in Philadelphia by a 
fortunate accident, and preserved from destruction by John 
R. Latimer, the son of one of the original members, and 
then President of the Pennsylvania Society.f 

We think, also, it has been already shown that a con- 
siderable portion of the records of the Society still exist ; 
the foregoing proceedings of each meeting having been 
given in full in order to show the patriotic spirit that 
animated the members throughout the existence of the 
Society. Possibly, too, the formation of the " Patriotic 
Society"| in Wilmington and New Castle, in 1792, by 

* Proceedings of General Society of the Cincinnati, 1857. 

I Memorandum of Hon. Hamilton Fish, President-General of the Cincin- 
nati, dated May 2, 1S60, and on file in archives of the N. Y. State Society. 

% The Constitution of " The Patriotic Society of the County of New Castle, 
in the State of Delaware" (and which is in the possession of the writer), 
declares " the Public Good to be its sole object," and, among its other prin- 
ciples, announced, that " it is both our right and our duty, as well as that of 
every other freeman, to regard with attention and discuss with freedom the 
conduct of the public servants in every department of Government;" and 
that " it is therefore the duty of every good citizen and shall be the constant 



SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI. 



35 



officers and soldiers of the Revolution, had a great deal to 
do with the gradual extinction of the Cincinnati in Dela- 
ware, by reason of being a more popular organization 
than the latter. Dr. James Tilton was likewise (in 1797) 
President of 
the former, 
Dr. George 
Monro Sec- 
retary, and 

Alexander Harvey Treasurer. The Society at one time 
numbered over fifty members, and met in the old Wilming- 
ton Academy, long since vanished.* 




endeavor of this Society, not only to remove prejudices, to conciliate the 
affections, to inform the understanding, and to promote the happiness of all 
our fellow-citizens, but to detect and publish to the world every violation of 
our Constitutions or instance of maladministration." The Society consisted 
of a General Meeting of the Associators within the County and of Meetings 
of the Associators in every " hundred" in the County, the former Meeting 
being held quarterly, the latter at their discretion. James McCullough was 
President, and John Bird, Secretary of this political organization (for such it 
eventually became) in the year 1794. 

* The old Wilmington Acad- 
emy stood on the south side of 
the King's Road, or Market 
Street, between Eighth and Ninth 
Streets, and was a two-story stone 
edifice, similar in appearance to 
the old Rodney House, yet stand- 
ing, in Wilmington, at Tenth and 
Broome Streets. It is stated in 
the early records that a lot which 
had been the property of Peter 
Stalcopp was purchased by Jonathan Daws and afterwards given by him 




WILMINGTON ACADEMY. 
Founded 1772-73. 



36 HISTORY OF THE DELAWARE STATE 

Many of the original members of the Society of the 
Cincinnati, however, were still regarded with affectionate 
esteem by the mass of the citizens, and were honored later 
in their lives with the highest office within the people's 

to build the Academy, which was erected in 1772-3. The lot extended to 
King's Street, in the rear, the building itself standing back from the road 
with a high wall in front and with large gates. Some of the old trees of the 
former grove were left standing. The ordinary English branches, with the 
Greek and Latin languages, were taught by a body of able instructors. 

The first trustees of the Grammar School, or the " Academy," as it was 
popularly known, were the owners of names well known and prominent in 
the affairs of both Delaware and Pennsylvania, viz. : Rev. Lawrence Girelius, 
Rev. Philip Reading, Richard McWilliam, George Read, Thomas Duff, 
Esq., James Lea, Joseph Staplers, John Jones, Theodore Maurice, Jonas 
Stidham, Nicholas Way, George Evans, Joseph Shallcross, Vincent Gilpin, 
and Jonathan Daws, all of New Castle County; also, the celebrated Rev. 
William Smith, D.D., first Provost of the College and Academy of Philadel- 
phia, Rev. Richard Peters, of Christ Church, and Rev. Jacob Duche, of St. 
Peter's Church (likewise of Philadelphia), Thomas Mifflin, Joseph Pember- 
ton, Myers Fisher, Thomas Gilpin, and Benjamin Wyncoop, all of the same 
city. 

In 1803 the Academy was incorporated as a College, and the following 
distinguished body of trustees from Delaware and Philadelphia, Pa., ap- 
pointed: Right Rev. William White, D.D., Rev. William Smith, D.D., 
Myers Fisher, John Dickinson, Thomas Duff, Joseph Tattnall, Jacob Broome, 
Gunning Bedford, James A. Bayard, Csesar Rodney, Daniel Rodney, Thomas 
Read, David Hall, Nicholas Ridgely, James Wilson, James Lea, Dr. Henry 
Latimer, Dr. George Monro, Dr. Ebenezer Augustus Smith, Joseph Tilton, 
Joseph Gilpin, Robert Hamilton, William Halliwell, James Sykes, William 
Warner, Outerbridge Horsey, Andrew Barrett, William McKee, and George 
Kennard ; men representing all sects of religion and all shades of political 
feeling. 

It was in this old historic building (virtually the Town Hall) in which 
portions of conflicting armies had in succession been quartered during the 
Revolution, and which had been at different times converted into a barrack 




SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI. 37 

gift, — that of governor of the State. Such were Colonel 
David Hall, Major Nathaniel Mitchell, and Captain Caleb 
Prew Bennett (the 
last surviving officer ^2^^fezS?Z^ ^ 

of the Delaware line) ; SL___g^__J^ S^—Z H^ 

also Joseph Haslet, 

the son of Colonel John Haslet, who fell at Princeton. 

Dr. Tilton 
was after- 
wards ap- 
pointed by 

President Madison Surgeon-General of the U. S. Army in 
the War of 1812; and Colonel Allen McLane, besides 
holding several important public offices in the State of 
Delaware, became Treasurer-General of the Cincinnati in 
1825, and so remained until his decease, in 1829; while 
Major William Popham, in 1844, became President of the 
New York Society, and afterwards President-General. 
John R. Latimer, son of Surgeon Henry Latimer, became 
likewise President of the Pennsylvania Society. Major 

and a hospital, that all the noted gatherings during the latter part of the 
preceding century took place. All the arrangements for the procession of 
the Cincinnati on February 22, 1800 (before alluded to), were here concerted, 
and here the Society repeatedly assembled on its anniversary meetings until 
its final dissolution. For over fifty years the old building stood a landmark 
in the centre of Wilmington, until, neglected and sadly in need of repair, it 
was abandoned to baser uses and finally demolished. (See " Reminiscences 
of Wilmington," by Miss E. Montgomery, pp. 293-98.) 

The above drawing of the Academy is from the only one known, in the 
possession of Mr. Amos C. Brinton, one of Wilmington's " oldest inhabitants," 
and was copied through his kind permission by the author. 



38 HISTORY OF THE DELAWARE STATE 

Joseph Anderson, appointed by Washington a judge of the 
United States Courts, served afterwards as United States 
Senator from Tennessee and as Comptroller of the National 
Treasury. The gallant Major Robert Kirkwood, a soldier 
to the last, fell in St. Clair's defeat on the Miami, November 
4, 1 79 1. Captain Edward Roche, the last Secretary of the 
Society, was a Justice of the Peace in Wilmington for 
nearly thirty years, and was also one of the last survivors 
(dying in 1821), with Major Peter Jaquett, who died in the 
year 1835, and Governor Bennett, the final officer of the 
Delaware line, as stated, who deceased in 1836.* 

And so ends the history of the comparatively brief 
existence of the old Delaware State Society of the Cincin- 
nati. Who and where, we may well inquire, are the 
worthy descendants of the brave Delaware line regiment or 
its contemporaries, to revive it ? Many yet survive to this 
day, within our call, in this or adjacent States, faithfully 
preserving, we find, the golden eagles of insignia, together 
with the portraits and diplomas of membership in the 
Society, of their heroic ancestors ; while the names and 
deeds of Haslet, Hall, Patten, Pope, and Tilton ; of Kirk- 
wood, Jaquett, and McLane ; of the Read, Rodney, and 
Rudolphf families (each of which latter named furnished 
three or four members equally distinguished for gallantry 

* See Record of personal and military services of original members of 
Delaware State Society of the Cincinnati, Appendix B. 

f The Ru- 

* dolphs alone 

furnished two 

members — 




SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI. 39 

in the war for American Independence) are still not only- 
household words throughout the State, but have been also 
repeated by their worthy representatives in each successive 
war in our country as well as in positions of honor in civil 
life, to the present day. 

And while we trust this earnest appeal for the speedy- 
resuscitation of the Society of the Delaware Cincinnati may 
not be in vain, let us also hope that its members may in the 
future, in their reunited brotherhood, and with a patriotic 
pride in the past history of their gallant little State, cherish 
the spirit as well of this most honorable of all American in- 
stitutions, of which the immortal Washington himself was 
its first head, and so continued until the hour of his death. 

In the words of the motto of the Order, Esto perpetua. 

John and Michael — as officers to Lee's Partisan Legion, and who were dis- 
tinguished not only all through the Southern campaign of 1780-82 (see Ap- 
pendix A, p. 40), but the latter named of the two being also brevetted by 




#&&^L&,£ 



Congress for special gallantry at the storming of Paulus Hook (now Jersey 
City), in New Jersey. (Resolution of U. S. Congress, September 24, 1779.) 
After the war he was appointed Major and Commandant of the Squadron of 
Cavalry, United States Legion, also Adjutant and Inspector-General U. S. Army. 

A third representative, Jacob, was a captain of Pennsylvania partisan 
troops, and was taken prisoner in the battle of Brandywine ; while still an- 
other, his brother John, captured at the beginning of the Revolution, at Fort 
Washington, in November, 1776, afterwards served throughout the war as 
an officer of the Pennsylvania line. 

See Pa. Archives, Second Series, Vols. X., XIV., and XV. Also, John- 
ston's " Hist. Cecil Co., Md." 



40 HISTORY OF THE DELAWARE STATE 



APPENDIX A. 



A Brief Account of the Delaware Regiments in the 
Revolution. 

The following brief narration of the history of the two 
Delaware regiments in the Revolutionary War has been 
mainly taken from the original journal of Sergeant-Major 
William Seymour, of the Delaware line, now in the posses- 
sion of, and republished by, the Historical Society of Penn- 
sylvania,* as well as from the personal recollections of Gov- 
ernor Caleb Prew Bennett, an officer in the same regiment, 
published by the same Society.f Reference has also been 
freely made to the " Annals of Delaware" in the " Dela- 
ware Register," Vol. II. (1839), ano ^ to tne Hon. William 
G. Whiteley's address on the " Revolutionary Soldiers of 
Delaware," read before the Delaware Historical Society 
some twenty years since, and afterwards, by request, before 
the two houses of the Delaware Legislature. By reason of 
the lapse of time and the comparative rarity of all these 
named publications, as well as of the possible necessity for 
frequent reference to the subject, the author has thought it 
well to append a resume of the services of these troops, led 
by the officers so repeatedly mentioned in the foregoing 
pages. 

* Pa. Mag. Hist, and Biog., Vol. VII., Nos. 3 and 4 (1883). 

f Ibid., Vol. IX., No. 4 (1885) and " Niles' Register," Sept. 2, -1843. 




*^ ^^ ^T '^ J ^ 7y 



1758-1: 



ENOANT, CALVIN SMITH BENNETT, NATCHEZ, MISS. 



SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI. 4 1 

Several errors, however, in regard to both names and 
dates have been found, by comparison with the original 
records, to exist in the last-named paper. These — but only 
where absolutely certain of being right — the author has 
ventured to correct, aware of the fact that similar inaccura- 
cies may possibly be found in the future, by others having 
additional data at hand, in these pages. 

The entire population of Delaware at the commencement 
of the Revolution was only about 37,000, and the number 
of troops the State could furnish could not necessarily be 
very large ; yet, by the second year of the war, it supplied 
and sent to the front three organizations, viz. : Colonels 
Haslet and Hall's regiments and Colonel Patterson's bat- 
talion, besides a partisan company under the command of 
Captain Allen McLane. Colonel Henry Neill had also, in 
the latter part of the war, a regiment called the Second 
Delaware battalion, but it does not appear to have been in 
any action.* 

Haslet's regiment,f composed of State troops in Con- 
tinental service, — that is, troops organized under the 

* A writer in the Freeman's Journal, of Philadelphia, October 8, 1783, 
states that Delaware furnished double its quota of troops in proportion to 
population, as compared to Pennsylvania and other larger States. The Dela- 
ware soldiers, including Continentals and militia, enlisted and in service, 
from 1775 to 1783, were as follows: 



1776. 


• 754 


1780 . 


• 556 


1777 • 


• 1299 


1781 . 


• 89 


1778. 


• 349 


1782 . 


164 


1779. 


• 317 


1783. 

Total . 


• 235 

• 3763 



f See Appendix C, p. 72. 



42 HISTORY OF THE DELAWARE STATE 

Colonial laws and furnished by the Delaware State upon 
the call of Congress, who appointed their field officers, — 
remained in service only until after the battle of Princeton, 
January 3, 1777. 

Hall's regiment* was the only strictly " Continental" one 
furnished by Delaware that saw active service. It was 
organized under a law of the Continental Congress, and 
this is the regiment always referred to when mention is 
made during the war of the " Delaware Regiment." 

Patterson's battalionf was a part of the " Flying Camp," 
as it was called, — a body of men called out by Congress in 
the fall of 1776 from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, 
and Maryland, to protect the Middle Colonies and to serve 
until December 1, 1776. Being undisciplined militia, their 
record was not satisfactory, and they returned to their 
homes at the expiration of their brief term of service, hav- 
ing had but one slight skirmish with the enemy. 

Delaware, by an Act of the General Assembly, passed 
June 21,1 780, raised a fourth regiment, and the command was 
assigned to Colonel Henry Neill.| It was the second Con- 
tinental regi- 
ment mus- 
tered into the 
service of the 
United States 
from that 
State. It was called " Continental Regiment, No. 38," was 

* See Appendixes D and E, pp. 75 and 78. 
f See Appendix G, p. 81. 
% See Appendix F, p. 80. 




SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI. 43 

stationed in Kent County, Maryland, and served but a 
limited period.* 

The services of Captain Allen McLane's partisan com- 
pany, whether as an independent command or afterwards as 
part of Lee's Corps, are too well known to require here 
detailed repetition. f 

Delaware, however, says Whiteley, — 

" Had great cause in the main to be proud of the conduct and heroism 
of its Revolutionary soldiers. In less than a month after the Declaration of 
Independence the State had eight hundred men in the field, who fought at 
Brooklyn, White Plains, Trenton, and Princeton, when the regiment, reduced 
to only one hundred officers and men, and its colonel killed while gallantly 
leading it into action, virtually ceased to exist. 

" In April, 1777, however, another regiment took its place, which fought at 
Brandywine, Germantown, Monmouth, Camden, Cowpens, Guilford, Ninety 
Six, and Eutaw, and this latter organization never laid down its arms, though 
reduced to almost a mere handful of men, until Cornwallis surrendered at 
Yorktown and Leslie evacuated Charleston. 

" In fact, there was not a battle during the Revolution worthy of the name, 
except those at Bunker's Hill and at Yorktown, in which one of the two 
Delaware regiments did not participate with credit. And even at Yorktown, 
though Hall's regiment itself, or rather what was left of it, was not present, it 
being at that time with Greene in the Carolinas, yet seven hundred recruits, 
raised in Delaware and Maryland for Kirkwood's and Smallwood's battalions, 
were stopped on their way to join their respective commands and ordered to 
join the American army before Yorktown, and thus the regiment itself may 
be said to have participated there also in the siege, the decisive battle, and 
conclusive victory of the war." 

The first Delaware Regiment, under the brave Haslet, 
in August, 1776, joined the head-quarters of the army, 

* See " Life of John Neill, of Lewes, Del., and Descendants" (private 
edition), 1875; a ^ so > " Remembrancer," Vol. X., part 2, London, 1780. 
f See Appendix H, p. 82. 



44 HISTORY OF THE DELAWARE STATE 

which was then at New York, the troops marching from 
Dover to New York without tents, and probably supplying 
themselves with provisions along the route. The regiment 
was brigaded with Smallwood's Maryland and four Penn- 
sylvania regiments, Lord Sterling being in command of the 
brigade. On the 27th of August, not more than five weeks 
after their marching from their native State, the Dela- 
wareans were in the battle of Brooklyn, or Long Island, 
and behaved with the courage, the discipline, and the 
steadiness of veteran soldiers. 

It was stated at the time that the Delaware, with the 
Maryland and Pennsylvania troops, fought as bravely as 
men could possibly do. The latter became separated, by 
which means the enemy obliged them to fight in small 
parties. " But the Delawares, being well trained, kept and 
fought in a compact body the whole time, and, when obliged 
to retreat, preserved their ranks, and entered the lines in 
that order; and were obliged frequently, while retreating, 
to fight their way through bodies of the enemy." Caesar 
Rodney, also, in a letter at the time to his brother Thomas 
Rodney, speaks of 

" the great honor obtained by the Delaware Battalion in the affair at Long 
Island, from the unparalleled bravery they showed in view of all the Generals 
and troops within the lines, who alternately praised and pitied them." 

In a subsequent letter he says, — 

" The Delaware and Maryland regiments stood firm to the last ; they stood 
for four hours drawn up on a hill, in close array, their colors flying, the 
enemy's artillery playing upon them, nor did they think of quitting their 
station until an express order from the General commanded them to retreat. 
. . . The standard was torn with shot in Ensign Stephen's hands." 






SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI. 45 

Lieutenants Stewart and Harvey were killed ; Major 
Macdonough, who was in command, Lieutenant Anderson, 
and Ensign Corse were wounded. 

The next general battle in which the regiment partici- 
pated was that of White Plains ; then at Trenton, on 
Christmas day, 1776. The battle of Princeton followed in 
ten days afterwards, 
and here the brave 
Colonel Haslet fell in 
the first attack on the 
British lines at sun- 
rise. Soon after, the 
regiment, greatly reduced in numbers and never reor- 
ganized, was disbanded ; the majority of officers and men 
having left to serve in the new Continental regiment called 
for by resolve of Congress (of September 16, 1776) to 
serve during the war. By reference to the following rolls, 
it will be readily perceived how many officers of the 
first Delaware Regiment obtained appointments in Colonel 
Hall's new regiment. These officers, doubtless, also car- 
ried off a great number of their men. The former were 
commissioned by Congress, though their appointment, ex- 
cept as to general officers, was left to the government of 
the several States, which provided arms and clothing for 
the men. 

This second regiment became the justly celebrated 
" Delaware Line." The first company to join it was Cap- 
tain John Patten's ; the second was Captain Robert Kirk- 
wood's, — both in the latter part of 1776. Six other 
companies joined during the winter, and the regiment was 



46 HISTORY OF THE DELAWARE STATE 

filled to the standard of eight hundred men by the fol- 
lowing spring, though there were the usual difficulties and 
delays in clothing, equipping, and arming it* 

It is not easy to obtain a correct or complete history of 
the regiment for the years 1777-79, there being in the 
State House at Dover but few original rolls, or other 
returns of any kind, of the regiment; our main reliance 
being on the private papers and letters of the officers and 
men, and these are few and difficult to find at the present 
day. 

We know, however, the regiment joined Washington in 
the Jerseys in the spring of 1777, and participated in the 
battles of Monmouth, Brandywine, and Germantown. Its 
members also shared the privations and bore the sufferings 
of the dreary winter at Valley Forge, as became true 
American soldiers.f 

It was in the southern campaigns, however, where the 



* The receipt on the opposite page, later in the same year, when Colonel 
Pope was in command, owing to Colonel Hall having been seriously wounded 
at the battle of Germantown, is in the handwriting of George Read, signer 
of the Declaration of Independence, and is photographed directly from the 
original. See, also, petition of officers of Delaware regiment to General 
Assembly of the Delaware State, dated December 4, 1779, P ra y m g f° r relief 
in the matter of supplies of provisions and clothing. Scharf 's " History of 
Delaware," Vol. I., p. 250 ; also Whiteley's " Revolutionary Soldiers of Dela- 
ware," pp. 52, 53. The original of this interesting document, with the sig- 
natures of all the officers appended, together with the official action of the 
two Houses of the General Assembly thereon, is now in the archives of the 
Delaware State Society of the Cincinnati. 

f See Caleb P. Bennett's " Narrative of the Delaware Regiment in the 
Revolution," Pa. Mag. Hist, and Biog., Vol. IX. (1885). 



fc w a 

£ ° 2 

2 f 2 

5 f 1 3 



H N 

M 8 H 



W B H ^ 

* > Ci 

« K W » 

H e * 2 



« D 5 p) 

r w 2 £ 



*> b w 



£ w M 

w M H 



? w 



kM v-^ 



I3W& 




SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI. 47 

regiment won its immortality. On April 13, 1780, the 
Delaware and Maryland troops, then encamped around 
Morristown in New Jersey, were ordered South. On 
April 16, they took up their line of march, two regi- 
ments from Maryland and one from Delaware, each about 
five hundred strong, or some fifteen hundred men in all. 
The brave Baron de Kalb was assigned as their com- 
mander. 

Colonel Hall did not march with his regiment, nor did 
he ever join it again, having been disabled by his wounds 
received at Germantown from taking the field. Lieutenant- 
Colonel Pope was on furlough at the time of march (having 
been also wounded at Mamaroneck), and did not go South. 
Major Joseph Vaughan was therefore in command. The 
regiments marched from Morristown to the head of Elk, as 
it was then called (now Elkton), in Cecil County, Maryland. 
This march was through Philadelphia and Wilmington, — a 
distance of one hundred and eight miles. They were 
veterans of three years' service, as thoroughly trained and 
disciplined, as brave and good soldiers as were to be found 
in the Continental Army, and if Greene had then been in 
command of the Southern Department instead of Gates, 
their worse than decimation at Camden would have been 
avoided and the lives of many of these brave and patriotic 
men saved. 

From the head of Elk all the troops were taken by water 
to Petersburg, in Virginia, except the park of artillery, 
which proceeded by land, under escort of a detachment 
from all the line. The journal of Sergeant-Major William 
Seymour gives a complete and exceedingly interesting 



48 HISTORY OF THE DELAWARE STATE 

account of the entire campaign.* The description of the 
marches, the condition of the troops, their want of provi- 
sions, and their losses in battle are all fully and vividly- 
related. Leaving Petersburg, the column proceeded south- 
ward by the way of Hillsborough, in North Carolina (four 
hundred and seventy miles from the Elk), to Buffalo Ford, 
on Deep River, where General Gates took command of the 
entire Southern army. 

They were now approaching Camden, the scene of their 
first great battle in the South, where, though the issue was 
so disastrous to the American forces, the Delaware and 
Maryland lines won imperishable renown. It is not the 
intention here to describe in detail this, or indeed any other, 
battle in which these troops were afterwards engaged, — to 
do so would be foreign to the object and scope of this 
paper. The battle of Camden was fought on August 16, 
1780, and resulted in the overwhelming defeat of the 
American troops, though the Delaware and Maryland sol- 
diers covered themselves with glory in saving the remainder 
of the routed army from annihilation. The former regi- 
ment at the commencement of the battle was five hundred 
strong ; at its close — and the fight lasted scarcely an 
hour — less than two hundred officers and men remained ! 
Lieutenant-Colonel Vaughan and Major John Patten were 
among the prisoners, and the command for the remainder 

of the war devolved 
mainly upon the glo- 
rious Kirkwood, — he of 
whom Seymour writes in panegyric that : 

* See Pa. Mag. Hist, and Biog., Vol. VII. (1883). 




SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI. 49 

" His (Kirkwood's) heroick valour and uncommon and undaunted bravery 
must needs be recorded in history till after years."* 

At Charlotte and Hillsborough, Kirkwood afterwards 
collected what remained of the regiment; and three com- 
panies of light infantry being formed out of the combined 
different corps, to the command of one of them — com- 
posed of the remnants of the Delaware and Second Mary- 
land Regiments — Captain Kirkwood was assigned. 

They participated in all the battles under Greene (who 
had relieved Gates) in the South from this time until the 
evacuation of Charleston by the British, near the close of 
the war, which was virtually ended with the surrender of 
Cornwallis at Yorktown, in the fall of the preceding year. 
At Guilford Court-House, Hobkirk's Hill, Eutaw Springs, 
and Ninety Six this gallant band immortalized themselves. 
General Greene, in his report to Congress of the battle at 
Guilford, mentions in the most commendatory manner the 

"old Delaware company of light infantry, under the brave Captain Kirk- 
wood, whose conduct and intrepidity were peculiarly conspicuous;" 

and Lee speaks of 

" the company of Delaware, under Kirkwood, to whom none could be supe- 



* Henry Lee, in his edition of his father's " Memoirs of the War in the 
Southern Department of the United States," says, by way of comparison, in 
speaking of Captain Edward Oldham, of the Fourth Maryland line, " too 
much praise cannot be given him. He (Captain Oldham) was engaged in 
almost every action in the South, and was uniformly distinguished for gal- 
lantry and good conduct. With the exception of Kirkwood of Delaware and 
Rudolph of the Legion Infantry, he was probably entitled to more credit than 
any officer of his rank in Greene's army, — a distinction which must place him 
high on the rolls of fame." 

4 



50 HISTORY OF THE DELAWARE STATE 

The same praise is bestowed upon these troops in suc- 
cessive engagements with the enemy. In fact, there is 
scarcely a general order issued by Greene in this whole 
campaign, after any of its battles, in which the Delaware 
battalion is not particularly named as meriting especial 
praise. In the siege and storming of the post of Ninety 
Six, Colonel Henry Lee led Kirkwood's Delawares with the 
troops of his own legion, and, with the intrepid Captain 
John Rudolph* leading the forlorn hope in advance, was 
the first to enter the fort. Though the attack failed, the 
gallantry of these troops was again commented on in orders 
by the commander of the American forces. 

Congress, when the report of Greene of the battle of 
Eutaw was received, passed a resolution of thanks in which 
it was resolved, — 

" That the thanks of the United States in Congress assembled be presented 
to the officers and men of the Maryland and Virginia brigades and Delaware 
battalion of Continental troops, for the unparalleled bravery and heroism by 
them displayed in advancing to the enemy through an incessant fire and 
charging them with an impetuosity and order that could not be resisted." 

Their final year of service is described by Bennett suc- 
cinctly as follows : 

" The Pennsylvanians, Marylanders, and Delawares, under the command 
of General St. Clair, after the surrender at Yorktown, proceeded South to 
join the army in South Carolina under General Greene, where we arrived, 
after a long and fatiguing march, the first day of January, 1782. On our 
arrival we (the Delaware detachment, commanded by Captain William 
McKennan), of course, took our station in Colonel William Washington's 
legion, composed of the remains of his regiment of horse and the shattered 
remains of the Delaware regiment, under the command of Captain Robert 

* Written indifferently Rudolph and Rudwlph in the reports. 



SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI. 5 1 

Kirkwood, with Captain Peter Jaquett, Lieutenants James Campbell and 
Thomas Anderson, who had been in command of the two companies of said 
regiment and had remained with the Southern army since the battle of 
Camden, August 1 6, 1780. 

"When the officers above mentioned and the invalids, with several other 
non-commissioned officers and soldiers belonging to Delaware, were relieved 
by those under the command of Captain William McKennan, with Captain 
Paul Queenault, Lieutenants Hyatt and Bennett, they proceeded soon after 
on their route for the State of Delaware. Our forces were then concentrated 
under General Greene, the army proceeded down towards Charleston, where 
the British were in force (the ilite of the army was composed of the two 
legions, Washington's and Lee's, with a detachment from the line of the 
army under the command of Major James Hamilton, of Pennsylvania), and 
took up a position on the Ashley River and was constantly kept on the alert, 
never stationary ; the whole or part of the command being continually on the 
lines watching the movements of the enemy. 
********** 

" The troops, both British and American, for the remainder of the cam- 
paign were inactive, the heat of the weather and the sickly season had arrived. 
The army retired from active service, and remained in that situation until it 
was understood the British army was on the eve of evacuating Charleston, 
the only position then held in the Southern States. 

" Soon after, Captain William McKennan and his command were ordered 
to proceed to the State of Delaware, there to wait for further orders."* 

And, as a concluding chapter in this brief history, Ser- 
geant-Major Seymour closes his journal in these words : 

"On November 7th (1782), the Maryland and Pennsylvania troops were 
formed into two battalions or regiments, each consisting of six hundred men, 
rank and file, the eighteen months men being sent home to their respective 
States. At the same time the Delaware regiment had orders to hold them- 
selves in readiness to march home from the southward on the 16th of 
November. 

" On the same day started from head-quarters on the Ashley River for 

* Pa. Mag. Hist, and Biog., Vol. IX. (1SS5). 



52 HISTORY OF THE DELAWARE STATE 

home, coming by way of Camden. Having arrived there November 22, 
were detained thirteen days by orders from General Greene ; left on Decem- 
ber 5, coming by way of Salisbury, Petersburgh, Carter's Ferry, on James 
River, we arrived at Georgetown, in Maryland, January 12, 1783; left there 
the same day and arrived at Christiana Bridge on the 17th, after a march of 
seven hundred and twenty miles from encampment on Ashley River, which 
was performed with very much difficulty, our men being so very weak after 
a tedious sickness which prevailed amongst them all last summer and fall."* 

No eulogy of the Delaware Line in the Revolution is 
needed to be added at this day. The simple recountal of 
its history and its services is sufficient, it would seem, to 
perpetuate for all time the heroism, the endurance, and the 
patriotism of its officers and its men. 

* Pa. Mag. Hist, and Biog., Vol. VII. (1883). 




I75I-I79 6 - 



; PORTRAIT IN POSSESSION OF DESCEND* 



CHARLES BHECK ADAMS, FEROUSON, 



SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI. 53 



APPENDIX B. 



Record of Personal and Military Services of Original 

Members of Delaware State Society 

of the Cincinnati. 

Adams, Daniel Jenifer, born at Port Tobacco, Charles 
County, Maryland, 175 1 ; the son of Josias and Ann 
(Jenifer) Adams. Commissioned First Lieutenant Captain 
Beall's Independent Company, Maryland Militia, January 
14, 1776; Brigade-Major to General Beall, of Maryland 
"Flying Camp," August 27 to December 1, 1776; Major 
Seventh Maryland Regiment, Continental Establishment, 
April 1, 1777; resigned June 8, 1779. Served after war 
as Brigadier-General of Militia and Sheriff of New Castle 
County, Delaware. Elected as a delegate to the General 
Meeting of the Society of the Cincinnati in 1787. Died 
November, 1796, and buried in Old Swedes' Church, Wil- 
mington, Delaware.* 

Adams, William, son of Captain Nathan Adams, of 
Colonel John Haslet's Regiment of Delaware State Troops, 

* His portrait by Peale and certificate of membership in Society of the Cin- 
cinnati are in possession of his great-grandson, Charles Breck Adams, Fergu- 
son, St. Louis Co., Missouri. This and all the other certificates of membership 
are signed by General Washington as President, and General Knox as Secre- 
tary of the Society, and dated April 26, 1787. 




Xp /no Cfl ijfwcfa&n^- 



54 HISTORY OF THE DELAWARE STATE 

in Continental Service (commissioned January 19, 1776, 

and died in 

service from 

7 C^t^^t^ wounds March 

"* 27, 1776). His 

eldest son was admitted to membership in the Cincinnati 

under the provision of the original Institution. 

Anderson, Enoch, born at Newport, New Castle County, 
Delaware. Commissioned Second Lieutenant Captain Stid- 
ham's Company, Colonel Haslet's Regiment of Delaware 
State Troops, in Conti- yj 
nental Service, January 13, ^& 
1776; wounded at battle 
of Long Island, N. Y., August 27, 1776; Captain, Decem- 
ber 3, 1776; transferred to Colonel Hall's Delaware 
Regiment, Continental Establishment, April 5, 1777; and 
retired from service, September — , 1778. Died March 4, 
1820. 

Anderson, Joseph, born near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 
November 5, 1757. Studied law and at commencement of 
Revolution commissioned Ensign Third New Jersey Regi- 
ment, Continental Establishment, May — , 1776; Second 
Lieutenant, July 19, 1776; First Lieutenant, November 
29, 1776; Captain, October 26, 1777; transferred to First 
New Jersey Regiment, Continental Establishment, January 
1, 1 78 1 ; retained in New Jersey Battalion, Continental Es- 
tablishment, April — , 1783; Regimental Paymaster from 
October 26, 1777, to close of war; brevetted Major, 
September 30, 1783; was also with General Sullivan in 
expedition against Iroquois Indians and present at siege of 




SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI. 55 

Yorktown. After the war he began the practice of law in 
Delaware, and in 1791 was appointed by President Wash- 
ington, Territorial Judge of the region south of the Ohio 
River, and took part as delegate from Jefferson County in 
framinj 
Constitu- 

" on ° f (^JQ£/h^j=<J>nA*4K^J 

lennes- 

see. He was United States Senator from that State from 
1797 to 18 1 5, and acting as President pro tempore; was 
also First Comptroller of U. S. Treasury from 181 5 till his 
death, in Washington, D. C, April 17, 1837. 

Anderson, Thomas, born in New Castle County, Dela- 
ware. Commissioned Second 
^^^1^ Lieutenant Captain Lear- 
^r month's Company, Colonel 

yr Hall's Delaware Regiment, 

Continental Establishment, September 10, 1778, and con- 
tinued to close of war. Served as Quartermaster of 
Regiment 1 778-1 780. 

Anderson, William, born in New Jersey, and commis- 
sioned Ensign Fourth New Jersey Regiment, Continental 
Establishment, February 17, 1777; served to July 1, 1778. 
Commissioned Ensign First New Jersey Regiment, Conti- 
nental Establishment, June 21, 1781, and served to Novem- 
ber 3, 1783. 

Bennett, Caleb Prew, born in Kennett Township, 
Chester County, Pennsylvania, November 11, 1758; the son 
of Joseph and Betty Bennett. Removed with parents to 
Wilmington, Delaware, in 1761, his father being a merchant 




56 HISTORY OF THE DELAWARE STATE 

in the importing trade with Europe and West Indies. At 
commencement of Revolution, served one year in ranks of 
Colonel Haslet's Regiment of Delaware State Troops, in 
Continental Service, as private and First Sergeant; com- 
missioned Ensign Captain Thomas Holland's Company, 
Colonel Hall's Delaware Regiment, Continental Establish- 
ment, April 5, 1777; wounded at battle of Germantown, 
October 4, 1777; Second Lieutenant, August 16, 1778; 
First Lieutenant Captains John Rhodes and William 
McKennan's Companies (same regiment), April, 1780, and 
served to close of war. Present at siege of Yorktown, and 
in command of battery on day Lord Cornwallis surren- 
dered. Commissioned Major of Delaware State Militia 
and in command of forces at New Castle during War of 
18 12-14. Treasurer of New Castle County, 1 807-1 832, 
when elected Governor of Delaware, and died in office, 
May 9, 1836. Buried in Friends' Cemetery, Fourth and 
West Streets, Wilmington, Delaware.* Assistant Treasurer 
of the Delaware State Society of the Cincinnati, 1799-t 

Campbell, James, appointed from Delaware. Com- 
missioned Ensign Captain Enoch Anderson's Company, 
Colonel Hall's Delaware Regiment, Continental Establish- 
ment, April 5, 1777; Second Lieutenant, May 21, 1778, 

* Governor Bennett was the last surviving officer of the Delaware Line. 
See obituary notices in Delaware Gazette and American Watchman, Wil- 
mington, Delaware, May 10, 1836, and Delaware State Journal, Wilmington, 
Delaware, same date. His certificate of membership in the Cincinnati is 
now in possession of his grandson, Calvin Smith Bennett, Greenfield Planta- 
tion, near Natchez, Mississippi. 

f See ante, p. 26. 



SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI. 57 

and First Lieutenant Captain Jaquett's Company (same 
regiment), 1780. Served to close of war.* 

Driskell, Joseph, born in New York. Commissioned 
Second Lieutenant Stevens's Battalion, New York Artil- 
lery, November 9, 1776, which became part of the Third 
Regiment Artillery Corps, Continental Establishment; First 
Lieutenant, May 7, 1779. Retired from service January 1, 

1783. 

Duff, Henry, born near Newport, New Castle County, 
Delaware, the son of Colonel Thomas Duff (of Delaware 
Militia in Revolution, a prominent landowner and Justice of 
the Peace 
as well as 
Sheriff of 
the county, 

.763-72). 0~//z77^< 

Commis- " sy 

sioned En- 
sign Colonel Hall's Delaware Regiment, Continental Estab- 
lishment, November 29, 1776; Second Lieutenant Captain 
Enoch Anderson's Company, April 5, 1777, and First 
Lieutenant Captain Learmonth's Company (same regiment), 
August 16, 1778. Served to close of the war. Died in 
New Castle County, Delaware, May — , 1789. 

Gilder, Reuben, appointed from Delaware, and served 
as Surgeon in Colonel Haslet's Regiment of Delaware 
State Troops in Continental Service until disbandment of 

* His certificate of membership in the Cincinnati is now in possession of 
the Delaware Historical Society. 






58 HISTORY OF THE DELAWARE STATE 

regiment. Commissioned Surgeon Colonel Hall's Dela- 
ware Regiment, Continental Estab- 
^* 4?\ lishment, April 5, 1777, and served 

> to close of war. Reuben Gilder 
afterwards appears as Captain Second Company, Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Peter L. Berry's detachment of Philadelphia 
Militia in War of 1812-14.* 

Hall, David, born at Lewes, Sussex County, Delaware, 
January 4, 1752; the son of David and Mary (Pollock) 
Hall ; lawyer by profession. Commissioned Captain, Col- 
onel Haslet's Regiment of Delaware State Troops, in 
Continental Service, January 16, 1776; Colonel Dela- 
ware Regiment, Continental Establishment, April 5, 1777. 
Wounded at battle of Germantown, October 4, 1777, and 
did not rejoin regiment, owing to disability from wound. 
Elected Governor of Delaware in 1802, and died September 

18, i8i7.f 

Haslet, Joseph, born in Kent County, Delaware ; son of 
Colonel John Haslet, commanding regiment of Delaware 
State Troops in Continental Service (commissioned January 

19, 1776, and killed at battle of Princeton, N. J., January 3, 
l 777)- Colonel Haslet was born in Ireland, and educated 
for the Presbyterian ministry, but subsequently studied 
medicine and practised the latter profession in Kent 
County, Delaware. He was first buried in the grave-yard 
of the First Presbyterian Church, in Philadelphia, Pa. ; 
but in 1 84 1 his remains were disinterred and conveyed 

* See " Penna. State Archives," Second Series, Vol. XII. 
■j- His certificate of membership in Society of the Cincinnati is now in pos- 
session of his great-grandson, John Herdman Walker, Wilmington, Delaware. 



SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI. 59 

to Dover, escorted by the military of Philadelphia, and on 
July 3 were deposited, with impressive ceremonies, in the 
vault prepared for them, and a monument erected over 
them.* 

Joseph Haslet, his only son, was admitted to member- 
ship in the Cincinnati under the provision of the original 
Institution. He was a lawyer by profession, and was 
twice elected Governor of Delaware, in 1S11 and 1823, — 
an honor never conferred by the State on any other citizen. 
He died in 1823. 

Hosman, Joseph, appointed from Delaware. Commis- 
sioned Ensign Captain Learmonth's Company, Colonel 
Hall's Delaware Regiment, Continental Establishment, 
April 5, 1777; Second Lieutenant and First Lieutenant 
Captain Purvis's Company (same regiment), August 16, 
1778, to January — , 1780. 

Hyatt, John Vance, born in New Castle County, Dela- 
ware. Commissioned Ensign Colonel Hall's Delaware 
Regiment, Continental Establishment, December 3, 1776; 
Second Lieutenant Captain Jaquett's Company (same regi- 
ment), April 5, 1777; taken prisoner, April 26, 1778; 
First Lieutenant, September 7, 1778 ; exchanged, March 
31, 1 78 1 ; rejoined regiment and served in Captain Paul 
Queenault's Company to close of war. After war, was ap- 
pointed Justice of the Peace for New Castle County, Dela- 
ware, 1785-86. Elected deacon Old Drawyer's Church 
(1790), and elder St. George's Church, New Castle County, 
Delaware, 179- Died, and buried in yard of former 
church, 1806. 

* See Whiteley's " Revolutionary Soldiers of Delaware," pp. 14, 15. 



60 HISTORY OF THE DELAWARE STATE 

Jaquett, Peter, born on Long Hook Farm, New Castle 
County, Delaware, April 6, 1754; the son of Peter and 
Elizabeth Jaquett. Commissioned Ensign in Captain Henry 
Darby's Company, Colonel Haslet's Regiment of Delaware 
State Troops, in Continental Service, January 17, 1776; 
Second Lieutenant Colonel Hall's Delaware Regiment, 
Continental Establishment, November 27, 1776 ; Captain 
(in same regiment), April 5, 1777, and served to close of 
war; brevetted Major, September 30, 1783. Died on his 
farm at Long Hook, September 13, 1834, and was buried 
in Old Swedes' Church-yard at Wilmington, Delaware. 
Vice-President of the Delaware State Society of the Cin- 
cinnati from 1795 to its dissolution.* 

Jones, James, appointed from Pennsylvania, and com- 
missioned Surgeon's Mate Fourth Pennsylvania Regiment, 
Continental Establishment, February 16, 1778 (acting as 
Surgeon from 1777 to 1779); transferred to Sixth Pennsyl- 
vania Regiment, Continental Establishment, May 1, 1779; 
Surgeon Fourth Pennsylvania Regiment, Continental Estab- 
lishment, February — , 1780; retired from service, January 
1, 1 78 1. Resided in Kent County, Delaware, till death, 
April 29, 1830. 

Kidd, Charles, born 
in Delaware. Commis- 
sioned Ensign Captain 
Jaquett's Company, Colonel Hall's Delaware Regiment, 
Continental Establishment, April 5, 1777; Second Lieu- 

* See, ante, pp. 24-26. His certificate of membership in Society of the Cin- 
cinnati and his sword are now in possession of his grand-nephew, Samuel 
Price Jaquett, Radnor, Delaware County, Pa. 





W*rpf"^L 




1 754-I834- 



fORTSAiT IN POSSESSION OF DESCENDANT, BENJAMiN F. UETHVEN, CHICAGO, ILL. 



SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI. 6 1 

tenant (same regiment), September 7, 1778; First Lieuten- 
ant, 1780, and served to close of war.* 

Kirkpatrick, David, appointed from New York. Com- 
missioned Ensign Colonel Malcolm's Additional Continental 
Regiment, April 24, 1777; transferred to Colonel Spencer's 
Regiment, Continental Establishment, April 22, 1779; Lieu- 
tenant, April 24, 1779; retired, January 1, 1781 ; Captain 
General Du Portail's Corps of Sappers and Miners, Conti- 
nental Establishment, July 25, 1781 ; wounded at siege of 
Yorktown, October 14, 1781 ; served to June 3, 1783. Pre- 
sented with sword by Lafayette for gallantry at battle of 
Brandy wine, September 11, 1777. Died in Wilmington, 
Delaware, and buried in cemetery of First Presbyterian 
Church, Market and Tenth Streets. 

Kirkwood, Robert, born in Mill Creek Hundred, New 
Castle County, Delaware, and was engaged in mercantile 
business at commencement of Revolution. Commissioned 
First Lieutenant Captain Henry Darby's Company, Colonel 
Haslet's Regiment of Delaware State Troops in Continental 
Service, January 17, 1776; Captain, December 1, 1776; 
transferred to Colonel Hall's Delaware Regiment, Continen- 
tal Establishment, as second ranking Captain, and served 
to close of war as Senior Captain in command of Delaware 
Battalion; brevetted Major, September 30, 1783. He was 
afterwards commissioned Captain Second Regiment United 
States Infantry, March 4, 1791, and marched under General 
St. Clair in the expedition against the Indians in Ohio 

* Was related by marriage to Lieutenant-Colonel Joseph Vaughan of same 
regiment. 



62 HISTORY OF THE DELAWARE STATE 

Territory. He fell in the battle near Fort Recovery, and, 
refusing to retreat in the defeat the army there sustained, 
the gallant soldier fell, " bravely sustaining his point of the 
action. It was the thirty-third time he had risked his life 
for his country, and he died as he had lived, — the brave, 
meritorious, unrewarded Kirkwood."* 

Latimer, Henry, born at Newport, New Castle County, 
Delaware, 1752; the son of Hon. James and Sarah 
(Geddes) Latimer. Studied medicine in Philadelphia, Pa., 
and completed course by graduation at Medical College 
of Edinburgh, Scotland. On return home, commenced the 
practice of his profession in Wilmington; but in 1777 was 
commissioned Surgeon in the Continental Army, and at- 
tached to what was called the Flying Hospital. Served 
with the army in all the battles in the Northern Depart- 
ment from Brandywine to Yorktown. After the war he 
returned to the practice of his profession. Was also 
elected a member of the State Legislature; also to Con- 
gress from 1793 to 1795; and in 1794 was elected United 
States Senator from Delaware for one term. Died Decem- 

* Lee's " Memoirs of the War in the Southern Department of the United 
States." Major Kirkwood's commission as First Lieutenant Delaware State 
Troops — dated January 13, 1 7 76, and signed by John Hancock, President, 
and Charles Thomson, Secretary, of Congress — and his commission of Brevet 
Major, dated September 30, 1783, are now in possession of his great-grand- 
son, Newell Kirkwood Kennon, St. Clairsville, Belmont County, Ohio. His 
certificate of membership in Society of the Cincinnati is in possession of his 
grandson, General Robert H. K. Whiteley, U. S. Army (retired), who has 
deposited in the Delaware Historical Society Major Kirkwood's journal, 
kept by him through the Revolution, and also his sash stained with his 
blood. 



SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI. 63 

ber 19, 1 8 19, and buried in cemetery of First Presbyterian 
Church, Wilmington, Delaware.* 

Learmonth, John, born in Sussex County, Delaware. 
Commissioned Second Lieutenant Captain David Hall's 
Company, Colonel Haslet's Regiment of Delaware State 
Troops in Continental Ser- ^ 

vice, January 16,1776; First (^/. tat A a Jtn^un^^ 

Lieutenant, November 28, ^^~ 

1776; Captain Colonel Hall's Delaware Regiment, April 5, 
1777, and served to close of war. Was living at Lewes, 
Delaware, in November, 1804. 

McKennan, William, born in Christiana Hundred, New 
Castle County, Delaware. His father was a clergyman, 
and preached at what is yet known as McKennan's Meet- 
ing-House. Commissioned Second Lieutenant Captain 
Thomas Kean's Company, Colonel Samuel Patterson's 
Delaware Battalion of the " Flying Camp," June or July, 
1776; Second Lieutenant, Colonel Hall's Delaware Regi- 
ment, Continental Establishment, November 29, 1776; First 
Lieutenant Captains Learmonth and Patten's Companies, 
(same regiment) April 5, 1777, and February — , 1780, 
Captain, — 1781, and served to close of war. Present at 
siege of and surrender at Yorktown, and in command of 
Delaware Detachment on return to its native State in 
January, 1783.J Was first Secretary of the Delaware 

* His son, John R. Latimer, was admitted a member of the Pennsylvania 
Society (1821), elected on Standing Committee (1823-24), Assistant Treasurer 
(1835-37), Treasurer (1837-54), Vice-President (1854-55), and President 
(1855 to decease, 1865). 

f See, ante, p. S. 



64 HISTORY OF THE DELAWARE STATE 

State Society of the Cincinnati (1784-1795).* Trustee of 
Old Drawyer's Church, 1790. Died and buried in New- 
Castle County, Delaware, February — , 1803. 

McLane, Allen, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Au- 
gust 8, 1746, and removed to Kent County, Delaware, 1774. 
In 1775 was appointed Lieutenant in Colonel Caesar Rodney's 
Regiment of Delaware Militia, and in 1776 joined Washing- 
ton's army and was distinguished in actions at Long Island, 
at White Plains, Trenton, and Princeton. Commissioned 
Captain and assigned to Colonel John Patton's Additional 
Continental Regiment, January 13, 1777. His partisan com- 
pany was in service on outposts of Philadelphia, Pennsyl- 
vania, during its occupation by enemy, 1777-1778; attached 
to Delaware Regiment, Continental Establishment, Decem- 
ber 16, 1778, and to Major Lee's Partisan Corps, July 
13, 1779; present at siege of, and surrender at, Yorktown, 
and retired from service, November 9, 1782. After the 
war was a member and Speaker of the Delaware Legis- 
lature, for six years a privy councillor, for many years 
Judge of the Court of Common Pleas and United States 
Marshal of the Delaware District from 1790 to 1798. 
Also Collector of the Port of Wilmington from 1808 to 
date of his death, which occurred May 22, 1829. Buried 
in Asbury Church cemetery, Wilmington, Delaware. After 
dissolution of Delaware State Society of the Cincinnati, he 
was transferred, on his application (1802), to membership 
in the Pennsylvania Society. Member of Standing Com- 

* See, ante, pp. 10-24. His certificate of membership in Society of the 
Cincinnati is now in possession of his grandson, Dr. Thomas McKennan, 
Washington, Pa. 



SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI. 65 

mittee therein (1 824-1 828) and Treasurer-General of the 
Society (1825-1829).* 

McWilliam, Stephen, born at " Spring Garden," the 
family residence, near New Castle, New Castle County, 
Delaware, November — , 1759; the son of Captain Richard 
and Margaret (Shaw) McWilliam. Commissioned Second 
Lieutenant Cap- ^y sp 

onel Hall's Dela- / 

ware Regiment, Continental Establishment, October 27, 
1779, and served to close of war. Appointed Paymaster 
(same regiment) 1780. Died after 1801, and buried in 
Immanuel Churchyard at New Castle, Delaware. Was 
First Assistant Treasurer of Delaware State Society of 
Cincinnati (i8o4).f 

Mitchell, Nathaniel, born 1753, and resided at or near 
Laurel, Sussex County, Delaware ; was the son of James 
and Margaret (Dagworthy) Mitchell, and nephew of Gen- 
eral John Dagworthy, of Delaware. Commissioned Adju- 
tant Colonel John Dagworthy's Delaware Battalion of 
Militia, 1775 ; Captain Colonel Samuel Patterson's Delaware 
Battalion of the "Flying Camp," June to December, 1776; 
Captain Colonel William Grayson's Additional Continental 

* His grandson, Hon. Robert Milligan McLane, is to-day President of the 
Maryland Society and also Vice-President-General of the General Society of 
the Cincinnati. 

f See ante, p. II. His punch-bowl, besides many pieces of his family 
silver, articles of jewelry, papers, etc., are now in possession of his great- 
grandnephew, Thomas David Pearce, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 

5 



66 HISTORY OF THE DELAWARE STATE 

Regiment, January 20, 1777; Major (same regiment) 
December 23, 1777; transferred to Colonel Nathaniel Gist's 
Additional Continental Regiment, April 22, 1779; Brigade 
Major and Inspector to General Peter Muhlenberg, 1779- 
81 ; retired from service, January 1, 1781 ; prisoner of war, 
July 18, 1782, and paroled. Delegate from Delaware to 
Continental Congress, 1786-88. Governor of Delaware 
State, 1805-07. Delegate to the General Meeting of the 
Society of the Cincinnati at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 
May, 1787. Died at Laurel, Delaware, February 21, 18 14, 
and buried in cemetery of old Broad Creek Episcopal 
Church, near that town. 

Monro, George, born at New Castle, New Castle 
County, Delaware, February 22, 1760; the son of George 
Monro, of Scotland, and Lydia Hall, his wife, and relative 
of Governor Hall of Delaware. Graduated from Newark 
Academy and afterwards studied medicine, graduating from 
University of Pennsylvania. Commissioned Surgeon's 
Mate in Sixth Virginia Regiment, Continental Establish- 
ment, 1779, and Hospital Surgeon, Continental Establish- 
ment, 1 78 1 ; continued in service with Southern army to 
close of war (November, 1782). After war, went to Europe 
and attended medical schools and hospitals in London and 
Edinburgh for over two years, receiving degree of M.D. 
from latter university also. Resumed practice of profession 
and farming in New Castle County, Delaware, in 1786, and 
in 1797 removed to Wilmington, where he died October 
11, 1 8 19. Buried in Presbyterian cemetery, Market and 
Tenth Streets, in that city. Was one of the trustees of the 
Wilmington Academy and College (1803) and of Newark 



SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI. 67 

Academy (18 18). Assistant Treasurer Delaware State 
Society of the Cincinnati (1788-1799), and Treasurer from 
1799 to dissolution of the Society.* 

Moore, James, born in Delaware. Commissioned First 
Lieutenant Captain Nathan Adams's Company, Colonel 
Haslet's Regiment of Delaware State Troops in Continental 
Service, January 19, 1776, Captain Colonel Hall's Dela- 
ware Regiment, Continental Establishment, December 2, 
1776; taken prisoner January 16, 1778; exchanged Decem- 
ber 7, 1780, and remained out of service. Was Assistant 
Treasurer of Delaware State Society of the Cincinnati 
(1786-1788); Delegate to the General Meetings of the 
Society (1784, 1787, and 1788), and afterwards was Assist- 
ant Treasurer of Pennsylvania Society (1798-1801).! 

Patten, John, born near Dover, Kent County, Delaware, 
April 26, 1746, the son of William and Ann Patten. Was 
a farmer at commencement of Revolution and commis- 
sioned First Lieutenant Captain Jonathan Caldwell's Com- 
pany, Colonel Haslet's Regiment of Delaware State Troops 
in Continental Service, January 15, 1776; senior Captain 
Colonel Hall's Delaware Regiment, Continental Establish- 
ment, November 30, 1776; Major, December 14, 1779; 
taken prisoner at battle of Camden, S. C, August 16, 1780, 
and on parole to close of war. He returned to Delaware 
after being paroled (but not exchanged) and did not rejoin 
his regiment. Served in Continental Congress (1785-86), 

* See ante, pp. 19-26. 

f See ante, pp. 14, 17, 20; also Winthrop Sargeant's "Journal of the Gen- 
eral Meeting of the Cincinnati, 1784." Not to be confounded with Major 
James Moore, First Pennsylvania Regiment, Continental Establishment. 



68 HISTORY OF THE DELAWARE STATE 

and upon the adoption of the United States Constitution 
was elected member of the Third Congress from Delaware 
(1793-94). Subsequently elected to the Fourth Congress, 
and served till 1797. Died December 26, 1800, and buried 
in Presbyterian Churchyard at Dover, Delaware. Was 
First Vice-President of the Delaware State Society of the 
Cincinnati, and so continued until elected President (1799); 
also Delegate to General Meetings of Society of the Cin- 
cinnati (1788, 1790, 1 79 1, and 1793).* 

Platt, John, born in Burlington County, New Jersey, 

August 13, 1749; the son of Thomas and Sarah (Dennis) 

Platt. Removed to Wilmington prior to Revolution. 

y^-\ Commissioned Lieutenant 

firfr-fi \&Zjr -£/- and Surgeon's Mate Colonel 

Hall's Delaware Regiment, 
Continental Establishment, April 5, 1777, and served to 
close of war. After the war he resided at his residence of 
" Chatham," near Wilmington, New Castle County, Dela- 
ware, till death, December — , 1823. 

Pope, Charles, born 1748, and resided at Smyrna, Kent 
County, Delaware. At commencement of Revolution was 
a merchant. Commissioned Captain Colonel Haslet's Regi- 
ment of Delaware State Troops, in Continental Service, 
January 18, 1776. Wounded at Mamaroneck, New York, 
in attack by Colonel Haslet, commanding Delaware and 
Maryland troops, on British (resulting in defeat of enemy), 
October 21, 1776. Commissioned Lieutenant-Colonel Col- 
onel Hall's Delaware Regiment, Continental Establishment, 
April 5, 1777; resigned on account of wounds, December 

* See ante, pp. 11-26. 




I74S-I803. 



FftOU MINIATURE POHIP.AIT IN FOSSESS'ON OF OCSCtNOANT, MPS. ANN BUZA ('O'i) MASTIN, ST. LOUIS, 



SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI. 69 

13, 1779. Removed to Georgia prior to 1800, and died and 
buried on his farm in Columbia County, in that State, Feb- 
ruary 16, 1803. 

Purvis, George, born in Delaware. Commissioned 
Second Lieutenant Captain Patten's Company, Colonel 
Hall's Delaware Regiment, Continental Establishment, 
April 5, 1777; First Lieutenant, October 15, 1777; Regi- 
mental Adjutant, August 15, 1778; Captain (same regiment) 
, and served to close of war. 

Roche, Edward, born at Passage, County Cork, Ireland, 
April 10, 1754; son of Laurence Roche. Resided in New 
Castle County, Delaware. Commissioned Second Lieu- 
tenant Colonel Hall's Delaware Regiment, Continental 
Establishment, April 5, 1777, and Paymaster (same regi- 
ment), September 10, 1778. Taken prisoner at battle of 
Camden, South Carolina, August 16, 1780. Paroled, and 
did not rejoin his regiment. After the war, resided in 
Wilmington, Delaware; by profession a notary public and 
Justice of the Peace for nearly twenty years. Died April 6, 
1 82 1, and buried in Old Swedes' Churchyard, Wilmington, 
Delaware. Treasurer of the Delaware State Society of the 
Cincinnati from its organization to 1799, and Secretary from 
latter date to its dissolution.* 



* See ante, pp. 11-29. H' s portrait and sword (formerly belonging to a 
Hessian officer) are now the property of his great-grandson, William Ford 
Roche, McVeytown, Pennsylvania; his certificate of membership in the 
Society of the Cincinnati is in the possession of his great-grandson, Samuel 
Seay Roche, Nashville, Tennessee ; and his commission of Justice of the 
Peace is in the possession of his grand-daughter, Mrs. Ann Eliza Larzelere, 
Tahlequah, Indian Territory. 



70 HISTORY OF THE DELAWARE STATE 

Smith, Ebenezer Augustus, appointed Surgeon's Mate, 
and served under Hospital Surgeons James Tilton and 
George Monro of the Continental Staff. With the latter at 
camp on the Ashley River, South Carolina, in November, 
1782, and served to close of war. Resided afterwards in 
Wilmington, Delaware, engaged in the practice of his pro- 
fession ; died and buried there. Was one of the trustees of 
the old Wilmington Academy and College (1803). 

Tilton, James, born in Kent County, Delaware, June 1, 
1745 ; the son of Thomas Tilton. Studied medicine and 
graduated from Medical Department, University of Penn- 
sylvania, M.B., 1768, and M.D., 1771. Commissioned 
Surgeon Colonel Haslet's Regiment of Delaware State 
Troops in Continental Service and served with regiment 
from January 16, 1776, to December — , 1776. Appointed 
Hospital Physician April 23, 1777; Hospital Physician and 
Surgeon, October 6, 1780, and served with army to close of 
war. After the Revolution, appointed Surgeon-General 
United States Army, June 11, 181 3, and honorably dis- 
charged June 15, 181 5, after termination of second war 
between United States and Great Britain. Was skilled and 
honored as a surgeon and the author of several treatises on 
medical, sanitary, and other subjects. Resided on his estate 
near Wilmington, Delaware, and died there May 14, 1822. 
Was first President of the Delaware State Society of the 
Cincinnati from its organization to 1795, and delegate to the 
General Meetings of the Society of the Cincinnati from 1784 
to 1793, when the State Society ceased to be represented.* 

* See ante, pp. 1 1-22. His insignia, presented by General Lafayette, is 
now the property of his grandnephew, Colonel M'Lane Tilton, U.S.M.C. 



SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI. 7 1 

Twining, Nathaniel, born in Bucks County, Pennsyl- 
vania, 1757; the son of Samuel and Mary (Jenks) Twin- 
ing, Private in First Associated Company (Associators) for 
the Township of Newtown, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, 
(Captain Francis Murray, Commanding), August 21, 1775. 
Commissioned Ensign Fourth Maryland Regiment, Con- 
tinental Establishment, December 10, 1776; Second Lieu- 
tenant, October 15, 1777, and resigned January 1, 1779. 
Having been reared in the religious belief of the Society of 
Friends, he was afterwards disowned (as his brother had also 
been) for entering the military service. Died after 1792. 

Vaughan, Joseph, born in England and resided in or 
near Bridgeville, Sussex County, Delaware. Was engaged 
in iron business and had a furnace near Concord in the 
same County at the beginning of the Revolution. Com- 
missioned Captain Colonel Haslet's Regiment of Delaware 
State Troops in Continental Service, January 21, 1776. 
Major Colonel Hall's 

Delaware Regiment, ZW/aXX^/^^ 

Continental Establish- /^/^ (A*^*^r 

ment, April 5, 1777, 
and Lieutenant -Col- 
onel (same regiment), December 14, 1779. Taken prisoner 
at battle of Camden, South Carolina, August 16, 1780, with 
Major Patten and other officers of the Delaware Regiment, 
and placed on parole till close of war. After the war, he 
moved into that portion of Maryland known as " The 
Fork," a tract lying between the two branches of the Nan- 
ticoke River, and adjacent to the Delaware State line. 
Here he died, but in what year is not known. 




72 HISTORY OF THE DELAWARE STATE 



APPENDIX C. 



Roll of the Field, Staff, and Company Officers of Col- 
onel John Haslet's Regiment of Delaware State 
Troops in Continental Service for the Month of 
January, 1776.* 

Field. 

Rank. Date of Commission. 

Colonel, John Haslet, January 19, 1776. 

Lieutenant-Colonel, Gunning Bedford, 19, " 

Major, Thomas MACDONOUGH,f March 22, 1776. 

* The only roster of the regiment in existence shows the above field, s aff, 
and company officers, — a more complete list than Mr. Whiteley was able to 
obtain. 

-j- John Macpherson, Esq., was elected Major of the regiment, January 19, 
1776; but was not then living, being killed by the side of General Mont- 
gomery, to whom he was acting as aid-de-camp, in the storming of Quebec, 




(/ 

December 31, 1775, and before he was commissioned. Intelligence of his 

death reached the Delaware Assembly in March, 1776, and, having recom- 
mended to Congress Thomas Macdonough to succeed Macpherson, the former 
was elected Major. 



SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI. 73 

Rank. Staff. Date of Commission. 

Surgeon, James Tilton, M.D. 
Chaplain, Rev. Joseph Montgomery. 
Adjutant, Thomas Holland. 
Quartermaster, Robert Bail. 

First Company, 

Captain, Joseph Stidman (Stidham?), January 13, 1776. 

First Lieutenant, Lewis Howell, " 13, 

Second Lieutenant, Enoch Anderson, " 13, 

Ensign, Thomas Holland, " 13, 

Second Company. 

Captain, Jonathan Caldwell, " 15, 

First Lieutenant, John Patten, " 15, 

Second Lieutenant, George McCall, " 15, 

Ensign, James Stevens, " 15, 

Third Company. 

Captain, David Hall, " 16, 

First Lieutenant, Jonathan Harney,* " 16, 

Second Lieutenant, John Learmonth, " 16, 

Ensign, Cord Hazzard, " 16, 

Fourth Company. 

Captain, Henry Darby, " 17, 

First Lieutenant, Robert Kirkwood, Jr., " 17, 

Second Lieutenant, William Popham,! " 17, 

Ensign, Peter Jaquett, Jr., " 17, 

* Reported killed at battle on Long Island, August 27, 1776. This name 
is frequently spelled Genethen Harney. 

f Afterwards President of New York State Society of Cincinnati, and 

President-General of the General Society, 1844, to date of death (1847). 



74 HISTORY OF THE DELAWARE STATE 

Fifth Company. 

Rank. 

Captain, Charles Pope, 

First Lieutenant, James Wells, 

Second Lieutenant, Alexander Stuart 

(Stewart ?) Jr., * 
Ensign, John Willson, 

Sixth Company. 
Captain, Nathan Adams, f 
First Lieutenant, James Moore, 
Second Lieutenant, James Gordon, 
Ensign, Thomas Nixon, Jr., 

Seventh Company. 
Captain, Samuel Smith, 
First Lieutenant, John Dickson, 
Second Lieutenant, James Macdonough, Jr., " 
Ensign, Abram Carty, 

Eighth Company. 
Captain, Joseph Vaughan, 
First Lieutenant, Joseph Truitt (or Frint) " 
Second Lieutenant, John Perkins, 
Ensign, William Vaughan,| 

* Reported killed at battle on Long Island, August 27, 1776. 

f Died in service, March 27, 1776. His son, William Adams, was an 
original member of the Delaware Cincinnati, by right of representation of his 
father. 

\ Died in service, March 22, 1777. 



Date of i 


Commission. 


January 


18, 


1776, 


11 


18, 


ti 


a 


18, 


it 


tt 


18, 


it 


tt 


19, 


t< 


tt 


19, 


tt 


a 


19, 


ti 


ti 


19, 


it 


tt 


20, 


11 


tt 


20, 


tt 


Jr., " 


20, 


a 


a 


20, 


n 


a 


21, 


it 


;t) " 


21, 


n 


<< 


21, 


tt 


a 


21, 


a 



SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI. 75 



APPENDIX D. 



Roll of Field, Staff and Company Officers of the Del- 
aware Regiment of Foot, on the Continental Es- 
tablishment, Commanded by Colonel David Hall, 
on the arrangement of April 5, 1777. (Original Roll, 
by Caleb P. Bennett, in archives of the Delaware 
State Society of the Cincinnati.) 

Field and Staff. 

Colonel, David Hall. 
Lieutenant-Colonel, Charles Pope. 
Major, Joseph Vaughan. 
Adjutant, John Lucas.* 
Paymaster, Edward Roche, f 
Quartermaster, James Trusam.* 
Surgeon, Reuben Gilder. 
Surgeon's Mate, John Platt. 

* Whiteley, in his " History of Revolutionary Soldiers of Delaware," states 
George Purvis as Adjutant and Thomas Anderson as Quartermaster, at this 
period. 

James Trusam or Tresham, was afterwards Adjutant, Colonel Henry 
Neill's Regiment, 1780. See Appendix F. 

f The writer adds that Edward Roche was appointed Lieutenant and 
Paymaster, August, 1778, Thomas Anderson was appointed Lieutenant and 
Quartermaster in 1778, Stephen McWilliam was appointed ditto in 17S0, and 
John Vaughan was appointed ditto in 1780. 



76 HISTORY OF THE DELAWARE STATE 

First Company. 
Captain, John Patten. 
First Lieutenant, Genethan Harney.* 
Second Lieutenant, George Purvis. 
Ensign, Benjamin McLane. 

Second Company. 
Captain, Robert Kirkwood. 
First Lieutenant, Alexander Stewart.* 
Second Lieutenant, Paul Queenault. 
Ensign, John Betson. 

Third Company. 
Captain, James Moore. 
First Lieutenant, John Willson. 
Second Lieutenant, James Bratton. 
Ensign, Thomas Berry. 

Fourth Company. 
Captain, Enoch Anderson. 
First Lieutenant, John Corse. 
Second Lieutenant, Henry Duff. 
Ensign, James Campbell. 

Fifth Company. 
Captain, Thomas Holland^ 

* Whiteley reports these officers as killed at the battle on Long Island, 
August 27, 1776. 



f Killed at battle of Germantown, 
Pennsylvania, October 4, 1777. 




SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI. 77 

First Lieutenant, John Rhodes. 
Second Lieutenant, Caleb Brown. 
Ensign, Caleb P. Bennett. 

Sixth Company. 
Captain, John Learmonth. 
First Lieutenant, William McKennan. 
Second Lieutenant, Griffith Jordan. 
Ensign, Joseph Hosman. 

Seventh Company. 
Captain, Cord Hazzard.* 
First Lieutenant, Daniel Powell Cox. 
Second Lieutenant, Joseph Wilds. 
Ensign, Elijah Skillington. 

Eighth Company. 
Captain, Peter Jaquett. 
First Lieutenant, Richard Wilds. 
Second Lieutenant, John V. Hyatt. 
Ensign, Charles Kidd. 

* " Captain Cord Hazzard was still living when I last heard from him (in 
1825). He resigned his commission in March, 1778, owing to the loss of his 
hearing by the bursting of a shell at Mud Island during the attack." — C. P. B. 

Note. — " Those comprise the whole appointments made in the Delaware 
Regiment from 1777 till the peace 1783." — C. P. B. 



78 HISTORY OF THE DELAWARE STATE 



APPENDIX E. 



Roll of the Field, Staff, and other Officers of the Dela- 
ware Regiment of Foot, commanded by Colonel 
David Hall, for the month of February, 1780. 

Field and Staff. 

Rank. Date of Original Commission, 

Colonel, David Hall, April 5, 1777 

Lieutenant-Colonel, Charles Pope, April 5, 1777 

Major, Joseph Vaughan, April 5, 1777 

Adjutant, George Purvis, August 15, 1778 

Paymaster, Edward Roche, September 10, 1778 

Quartermaster, Thomas Anderson, September 10, 1778 

Surgeon, Reuben Gilder, April 5, 1777 

Surgeon's Mate, John Platt, April 5, 1777 

First Company. 
Captain, John Patten, November 30, 1776. 

First Lieutenant, William McKennan, April 5, 1777. 

Second Lieutenant, Elijah Skilling- 

ton, September 8, 1778. 

Second Company. 

Captain, Robert Kirkwood, December 1, 1776. 

First Lieutenant, Daniel P. Cox, April 5, 1777. 

Second Lieutenant, Charles Kidd, September 7, 1778. 



SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI. 79 

Third Company. 

Rank. Date of Original Commission. 

Captain, John Learmonth, April 5, 1777. 

First Lieutenant, Henry Duff, August 16, 1778. 

Second Lieutenant, Thomas Anderson, September 10, 1778. 

Fourth Company. 
Captain, Peter Jaquett, April 5, 1777. 

First Lieutenant, James Campbell, April 5, 1777. 

Second Lieutenant, Stephen McWil- 

liam, October 27, 1779. 

Fifth Company, 

Captain, John Willson, March 1, 1777. 

First Lieutenant, Paul Queenault, January 26, 1778. 
Second Lieutenant, Edward Roche, September 10, 1778. 

Sixth Company. 
Captain, John Corse, March 1, 1779. 

First Lieutenant, Caleb Brown, September 10, 1778. 

Second Lieutenant, 

Seventh Company. 
Captain, John Rhodes, December 4, 1776. 

First Lieutenant, Caleb P. Bennett, August 16, 1778. 
Second Lieutenant, 

Eighth Company. 
Captain, George Purvis, October 15, 1777. 

First Lieutenant, Joseph Hosman, August 16, 1778. 
Second Lieutenant, Joseph Hosman, 



8o HISTORY OF THE DELAWARE STATE 



APPENDIX F. 



Roll of Officers of the Delaware Regiment, raised by 
an Act of the General Assembly of the Delaware 
State, and passed at Dover, the 21st day of June, 
1780, commanded by Colonel Henry Neill and ap- 
pointed to serve in the Army of the United States 
until the 1st day of November. (Mustered at Phila- 
delphia, and pay commencing from the 10th day of 
July. Discharged the 28th day of October, 1780.) 

Field and Staff. 

Rank. Date of Commission. 

Lieutenant-Colonel, Henry Neill, July 8, 1780. 

Major, James Mitchell, July 8, 1780. 

Quartermaster,' John West, July 10, 1780. 

Surgeon, Robert Wilcox, August 5, 1780. 

Adjutant, James Tresh am,* July 31,1780. 

Captains. 

1. Simon Wilmer Wilson. 

2. Charles Nixon. 

3. Hugh McCracken. 

4. George Smith. 

5. William Clement. 

6. William Moore. 

* See Note, p. 75. 



SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI. 



81 



APPENDIX G. 



Roll of Officers of Colonel Samuel Patterson's Dela- 
ware Battalion of the " Flying Camp," to serve 
until December ist, 1776. 

Colonel, Samuel Patterson.* 
Lieutenant-Colonel, George Latimer. 



Capta 
Capta 
Capta 
Capta 
Capta 
Capta 
Capta 
Capta 



n, William Moody. 

n, Joseph Caldwell^ 

n, Thomas Kean.J 

n, James Dunn. 

n, Thomas Skillington. 

n, Matt. Manlove. 

n, John Woodgate. 

n, Nathaniel Mitchell.§ 




* Afterwards Brigadier-General of Delaware State Milita. 

f There were two Captains Caldwell in the service of Delaware, the above- 
named and Jonathan Caldwell 
of Colonel Haslet's Regiment ; 
the latter of the two being the 
originator, it is said, of the 
term " Blue Hen's Chickens" as applied to the Delaware soldiers in the 
Revolution. 

\ Afterwards a member of the Delaware State Society of the Cincinnati. 
Born 1747 and died 1802. Buried in Presbyterian cemetery, Market and 
Tenth Streets, Wilmington, Delaware. 

§ Afterwards Major in Grayson's and Gist's Additional Continental Regi- 
ments and a member of the Delaware State Society of the Cincinnati. See 
Record of Officers, Appendix B. 



82 HISTORY OF THE DELAWARE STATE 



APPENDIX H. 



Roll of Officers of Captain Allen McLane's Partisan 
Company of Foot in the Service of the United 
States for the months of March, April, May, and 
June, 1779. 

Commissioned. 

Captain, Allen McLane, January 13, 1777. 

First Lieutenant, A. M. Dunn, " 13, " 

Second Lieutenant, William Jones,* 13, " 

* Killed at Wyoming, April 17, 1779. 



SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI. 83 



APPENDIX I. 



Roll of Officers of Veteran Corps of Delaware (com- 
posed of Officers and Soldiers of the Revolution, 
and disbanded after 1802). 

Captain, Allen McLane. 
First Lieutenant, Edward Roche. 
Second Lieutenant, George Monro. 
Third Lieutenant, David Kirkpatrick. 

Reorganized as a Veteran Home-Guard for defence of 
Wilmington, Delaware, on proclamation of war by the 
United States with Great Britain, June 18, 18 12. 

Captain, Allen McLane. 

First Lieutenant, Peter Jaquett. 

Second Lieutenant, Edward Roche. 

Third Lieutenant, David Kirkpatrick. 

Surgeons. 
Dr. James Tilton. 
Dr. George Monro. 
Dr. Ebenezer Augustus Smith. 



84 HISTORY OF THE DELAWARE STATE 



APPENDIX K. 



FUNERAL ORATION 



ON THE DEATH OF 



GEN. GEORGE WASHINGTON. 



PREPARED AT THE REQUEST OF THE SOCIETY OF CINCINNATI OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE, 
AND PRONOUNCED AT WILMINGTON ON THE 22D DAY OF FEBRUARY, 180O. 



BY 

EDWARD ROCHE, 

Secretary of the Society. 



Cultivate the Virtues of your Fathers, 
Valour, truth and temperance and justice. 
Who shall dare, if thus renew'd, ye feel 
Your innate dignity; when bold to act, 
And clear to penetrate, ye know the force 
And worth of Independence ; who shall dare, 
By open violence, or insiduous guile, 
Provoke your vengeance. 

— Richardson. 



WILMINGTON. 

PRINTED AT THE FRANKLIN PRESS, 

BY JAMES WILSON. 

I800. 




1754-1S21. 



OF DESCENDANT, MRS. ANN EUZA (bOCHe) LARZflERE, TAHLEQUAH, 



SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI. 85 



A SKETCH OF THE FUNERAL PROCESSION. 

On the 22d of February last, being the day recom- 
mended by Congress for paying a tribute of grateful re- 
spect to the memory of George Washington, a large 
Concourse of citizens assembled in the borough of Wil- 
mington, impressed with one common sentiment of respect 
and veneration for the many virtues of our departed Hero. 

A procession was formed at the Town-Hall, in the fol- 
lowing order : — 

1. Captain Israel's Company of Artillery, from Christiana- 
Bridge, in uniform. 

2. Captain Darragh's Company of Infantry, from New- 
Castle, in uniform. 

3. Captain Elliot's Company of Infantry, of Wilmington, 
in uniform. 

4. Detachment of Infantry of the United States, com- 
manded by Captain Peyton. 

5. Military Music. 

6. Clergy. 

7. Sixteen young Ladies, dressed in white, each repre- 
senting a State, by bearing its name on a black sash, and 
carrying a sprig of laurel in the outside hand. 

8. Vocal Music — eight young Ladies, dressed in white, 
wearing a black ribbon on the left arm. 



86 HISTORY OF THE DELAWARE STATE 

9. Black Banner, borne by a Member of the Cincinnati, 
dressed in black. 

Inscribed — " George Washington — We deplore his death" 
Reverse ; — An Eagle, Liberty and Independence.* 

10. President of the Cincinnati and Orator of the Day, 
followed by the Members. 

11. Citizens above 45 years of age, who served during 
the Revolutionary war, either in a civil or military capacity. 

12. Officers, civil and military, of the United States and 
of this State. 

13. Citizens, not included in the above description. 

About 12 o'clock, the procession, thus formed, pro- 
ceeded thro' the principal streets to the Second Presby- 
terian Church, where the ladies deposited their laurels on a 
table in front of the pulpit, each pronouncing these words : 
" Sacred to the memory of Washington — we deposit this laurel 
as an emblem of his never-dying fame!* The banner being 
reclined against the pulpit, and the audience composed, 

* The emblem of the Order of the Cincinnati and the motto of the Dela- 
ware State ; also the present seal of the Delaware Society of the Cincinnati. 
(See back of title-page.) 

This same legend, " Liberty and Independence," was not added to the 
Great Seal of Delaware until more than twenty years after the above date, 
as may be readily seen by inspection of the seals of that period; although 
Hon. Peter Robinson, former Secretary of State, says, in a letter dated July 
4, 1 81 6, that it was first used in that year. It would appear, therefore, in 
either case, and in absence of proof to the contrary, that the Delaware Cin- 
cinnati Society has the honor of being the originator of the State's motto. 
(See, also, Every Evening and Daily Commercial, Wilmington, Delaware, 
March 23 and 28, 1895.) 



SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI. 87 

the Ode, prefixed to this oration, was sung by the afore- 
mentioned singers and a number of gentlemen ; after which 
the Rev. Francis A. Latta addressed the Throne of Grace 
in a very pertinent and pathetic prayer. 

Captain Roche then pronounced the following Oration. 
A funeral Anthem concluded the solemnity ; and the pro- 
cession returned, in the same order they came, to the Town- 
Hall, and separated. 



88 HISTORY OF THE DELAWARE STATE 

STANZAS. 

For the Twenty-Second of February, 1800. 

BY MR. COLEMAN. 

Behold the important day appears, 
Devoted erst to joy and mirth; 
The day which Liberty reveres, 
Which gave Columbia's Hero birth. 

But now, alas, his natal day, 
To general mourning consecrate, 
Awakes the melancholy lay, 
In sad remembrance of his fate. 

For Washington, illustrious Sage, 
Ordained by Heaven our rights to save 
From tyranny's vindictive rage, 
Mature in glory, seeks the grave. 

Ye hoary Sages of the land, 
Who saw the Hero's first career; 
Whose counsels nerved his mighty hand, 
Thro' war's tempestuous tide to steer — 

You saw him freedom's banner wave, 
And thousands rally at the sight, 
Britannia's myrmidons to brave, 
And triumph in the sanguine fight — 

Heave from each reverend breast a sigh, 
Sacred to your departed Chief, 



SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI. 89 

While sadness sits in every eye, 
And speaks a grateful nation's grief. 

Ye Veterans brave, in dangers dire, 
Who saw him lift his dauntless form, 
And every breast with valour fire, 
To meet the battle's deathful storm — 

With filial veneration pay 
Due honors to your Leader's name ; 
United tune the plaintive lay, 
And celebrate his deathless fame. 

Ye Matrons grave and blooming Fair, 
In whom the tender virtues reign, 
To His loved memory drop a tear, 
Who saved you from oppression's chain. 

Ye generous Youths, whose bosoms swell 
With emulation at the name, 
Still on his peerless virtues dwell, 
And trace his footsteps up to fame. 

For us he traced Columbia's shore, 
To various ills and death expos'd ; 
For us the cares of empire bore; 
For us a life of glory closed. 

Still shall his name, to freedom dear, 
Wake virtuous deeds and thoughts refined ; 
And grateful recollection rear 
His monument in every mind. 



90 HISTORY OF THE DELAWARE STATE 



FUNERAL ORATION.* 

Fellow-Citizens, 

The Society of the Cincinnati of Delaware, advance to 
contribute their part in the public testimonials of sorrow 
for the death, and honor of the memory, of the late 
illustrious Commander in Chief of the Armies of the United 
States. 

Tho' our members are few, and our means may be weak, 
yet, when it is remembered that the distinguished Hero 
whose death is deplored, was our Leader in War, our 
President in Peace; and the practical illustrator of those 
virtues which we profess to cherish and inculcate — we trust 
it will be allowed, however deficient we may be in expres- 
sion, that our feelings are strongly interested. 

The part of Orator, upon this awful and important occa- 
sion, has been deputed to me. If an ardent and honest 
zeal, could compensate for inexperience and very limited 
abilities, I should expect to command your attention : but 
feeling as I do most sensibly, how unequal my talents are 
to the great subject before me, I must earnestly solicit, what 
I am certain I shall much need, your kind and candid 
indulgence. 

Mr. President, Brethren and Fellow- Citizens, 

The truly eminent and illustrious Hero and Patriot, Gen- 

* The quaint orthography, arrangement of sentences and punctuation of 
the following oration, are exact copies of the original. 



SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI. 9 1 

eral George Washington, whose death we now deplore, 
was the Friend, the Father, of his Country; the kind 
encourager and supporter of Virtue ; and the protector of 
millions. He was the shield and sword of America ; — in 
him our most sanguine hopes of public good were real- 
ized ; — by him our greatest fears of political evil were 
hushed. 

Whatever the imagination can conceive of great and 
good, of awful and sublime in human nature, may be justly 
ascribed to his character. His was intrinsic grandeur. 
Great in himself, he shone like a Pharos, fixed upon the 
immovable and impregnable rock of virtue, to direct us 
into the fair ports of Peace, Liberty and Safety. In the 
expressive language of the inimitable Shakespeare : 

" He was a combination and a form indeed, where every 
god did seem to set his seal to give the world assurance 
of his worth." 

The remembrance of the various relations in which he 
stood and acted, as Hero, Patriot, Statesman, Citizen, Hus- 
band, Father, Son and Brother — his undaunted Courage, 
his inflexible Virtue, his superior Wisdom and his important 
Services, excite such uncommon sensations and press with 
such force upon the mind, when we consider the magnitude 
of our loss, that imagination sinks under the mighty im- 
pression. Language is too weak, all customary modes 
and forms of grief too poor and too trifling, to give utter- 
ance to the solemn and deep sensation of our complicated 
woe. — It imposes an awful and an agonizing Silence ! 

In the first paroxism of public grief, if we had been 
guilty of some excesses — if, " overstepping the modesty of 



92 HISTORY OF THE DELAWARE STATE 

nature," and the dignity of republicans — we had spoken or 
acted, in the opinion of abstract reason, absurd or indis- 
creet, the world might pity, but could not condemn us. 

But now, my Brethren and Fellow-Citizens, when we 
have had leisure to reason and reflect, when the hurry and 
tumult of our affections have had time to subside, let us 
endeavor to withdraw our thoughts from the melancholy 
and afflicting part of the subject, and, with a proper reliance 
on Providence — with a manly and decent sense of our loss 
— and a due respect for the honour of the deceased — let us 
endeavor to draw from it some consolation and useful in- 
struction. It is highly fertile in both. 

Our beloved Washington lived long enough for his 
country — he lived long enough for his own glory. His 
fame arrived at maturity, full and round, and fair — he has 
dropped into the bosom of eternity. I dare not attempt to 
withdraw the veil that hides eternity from the eyes of men ; 
but I indulge a most lively hope, that his useful labors, and 
his virtuous life, have ensured to his pure spirit a welcome 
reception in the mansions of eternal bliss and the highest 
approbation of Heaven ! 

With this hope my Brethren and Fellow-Citizens, let us 
endeavor to change our griefs into joy. 

Ought we not greatly to exult, that our country has 
produced the fairest and grandest example of Virtue, 
Patriotism and Honor, in the character of our late illus- 
trious President, that history has yet recorded ? — What may 
have been the merits and virtues of the first Heroes and 
Statesmen which Greece produced after it was colonized by 
Egypt, I know not : their characters have been transmitted 



SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI. 93 

to us so shrouded with fable and obscured by allegory, that 
we can have no very definite idea of them ; but the annals 
of mankind, so far as they can be traced with accuracy 
and understood with perspicuity, afford no parallel to our 
WASHINGTON. 

Monarchs of the world ! turn over the pages of his life, 
and irradiate your brows with the lustre of his Virtues ! 

Popular Leaders ! learn from his life, that all ambition 
which has not for its basis private virtue and for its end pub- 
lic good, is ruinous to society and defeats its own purposes. 

The life of our matchless Chief forms a new aera in the 
political world: the pomp and power of Kings, the triumphs 
of Conquerors, the pageantry of State and the pride of An- 
cestry, are all obscured by the radiance of his glory. 

" His glory," to use the correct language of Mr. Addi- 
son, " is impregnable ; all the assailants of his renown do 
but shew their impatience of its brightness, without throw- 
ing the least shade upon it. All that can be offered against 
it is rumor; which is too short-lived to stand in competi- 
tion with its glory, which is everlasting." 

How consoling is the hope that the memory of his ser- 
vices and virtues will live and be a grand and powerfully 
stimulating example, to the present and future ages, of 
every virtuous and patriotic duty. 

Happy People ! who have been favored by Heaven with 
the presence and example of such exalted Virtue, to pre- 
serve, direct and enlighten you ! 

Worthy Hero ! to have commanded the generous con- 
fidence, the grateful plaudits and the unfeigned sorrows of 
a free and virtuous People ! 



94 HISTORY OF THE DELAWARE STATE 

From the earliest period of his manhood, our Washing- 
ton was marked by the penetrating eye of observation, as 
having something in his appearance more than usual to 
recommend him. He was above the common stature, well 
proportioned, a manly figure, with features strongly marked. 
But it was not these alone which so particularly attracted 
notice — with these alone, he might have been " only the 
greatest wrestler on the green." It was the seal of Heaven, 
impressed by his principles and his virtues, which gave 
lustre to his countenance and dignity to his manners. It 
was the brightness of his pure mind, emanating thro' the 
mass which enclosed it, that drew from the wise observers 
of human nature the presages of his future greatness and 
worth. 

Near the banks of the Monongahela, our Hero gave 
to the world the first proofs of that uncommon presence of 
mind and strong military genius, which fulfilled in part the 
predictions in his favor and which afterwards made him 
be considered as the hope and bulwark of America. 

There surrounded by the wily Indians, who lay in am- 
bush to receive him, the obstinate and unfortunate Brad- 
dock, fell a victim to his own temerity. 

His troops, close wedged in ranks, agreeably to the 
tactics of Europe, fell under the well-directed fire of the 
unseen Indians. Terror, rout, despair and death, flew 
rapidly along their ranks. The Indian yell, dreadfully 
triumphant, echoed from hill to hill ; and the horrid toma- 
hawk began to close the scene of death and carnage which 
their fire had commenced, — when Washington, (then low 
in command and whose advice to Braddock previous to 



SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI. 95 

the action had been haughtily rejected), rushes to the con- 
flict and placing himself with a few Virginians, between 
the Indians and Europeans, he commands respect, restores 
order, banishes despair, covers the retreat and saves the 
remnant of the army from the cruel triumphs of the savage 
foe. 

Upon the commencement of the War between Great 
Britain and America, he is called by the unanimous voice 
of Congress to command the armies of his country. 

Already had the virtuous and patriotic sons of New 
England opposed with vigor the well-trained veterans of 
Britain, upon the heights above Boston. 

Here our Hero hastes, and adding by his presence the 
dignity of system, the force of discipline and the wisdom 
of experience, to the native courage of injured and incensed 
Freemen, he in a short time confines the insolence and 
ravages of the foe within the narrow bounds of Boston ; 
and from thence, by judicious dispositions, without risking 
his army, he at length dislodges them. 

Baffled and disappointed here, the enemy with a for- 
midable army, under the command of leaders of distin- 
guished military fame, land on Long Island; determined 
by seizing New York and the passes on the North River, 
to separate the northern from the southern States, and 
reduce us to unconditional submission. Our hasty-raised, 
undisciplined and ill-provided troops, yield to the discipline, 
numbers and gallantry of the well-appointed and veteran 
foe. Defeat follows defeat. Long Island, New York, 
White Plains, Fort Washington, witness the triumphs of 
our enemies ; — and tho' the wisdom and valor of our Hero 



96 HISTORY OF THE DELAWARE STATE 

is eminently displayed in all the trying difficulties that 
assail him, he is overborne by the peculiar circumstances 
under which his army was formed and the superior force 
of the Britons. Our armies fly and diminish before the 
march of the enemy across New Jersey. 

The warmest advocates for American Independence 
almost despair. Patriotism seems paralized. — The Dela- 
ware river opposes the first effectual barrier to the suc- 
cessful progress of the foe. 

Here our Hero finally makes a stand, attended only by 
the miserable remains of an army, almost naked, ill-pro- 
vided and dispirited ; apparently deserted by their country 
and with little hope of succor; God, and the justice of 
their cause, their chief support. 

This, this was the time to try men's souls. — Firm and 
undaunted, his penetrating genius, piercing thro' the thick 
glooms that surround him, saw in bright perspective, the 
future fortunes that await. Superior to clouds and storms 
and all the frowning horrors of a rigorous winter, he medi- 
tates the blow which, in this important crisis, was to decide 
the fate of our country. 

It was night — the Delaware lay between him and the foe 
— its waters, swol'n by preceding rains and charged with 
ice, rushed impetuously do n its channel and crashed on 
the shores with terrific and sounding violence, making the 
darkness most horrible. — Unappalled by the terrors of the 
stream — insensible to the sev .rity of the weather and un- 
awed by the veteran skill of tne enemy, he, with his hardy 
little band, trained in the school of misfortune, crosses the 
river. 



SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI. 97 

The veteran Legions of Germany, posted at Trenton, fall 
victims to the rapid, vigorous and well-concerted attack, or 
throw down their arms in despair and are made captive. 

Triumphant, our Hero re-crosses the river, with near 
one thousand Hessians in his train, sad but convincing wit- 
nesses of his military skill and vigor. 

A small reinforcement of militia from Pennsylvania and 
Delaware now arrive. — (Gallant and Heroic men ! may your 
gray hairs, if any of you yet live, be honored and may you 
find shelter from the bleak winds of poverty in the bosom 
of your country !) — Our gallant Chief again crosses the 
river and takes post with his army at Trenton. 

The enemy, with superior force, approach the town, which 
he is obliged to abandon. 

Here, by one of the grandest military manoeuvres that 
ever decided the fate of empire, he defeats the foe and 
snatches from their grasp what they had already counted a 
sure victory. 

The morning sun had hardly banished the shadows of 
the night, under whose cover our Washington had saved 
his little army from the impending and apparently unavoid- 
able ruin which threatened it at Trenton, before it saw him 
victorious over the valiant veterans of Britain, on the fields 
of Princeton. 

The infant Genius of America, who but a few days before, 
with drooping wing cowered down and wailed in the wintry 
blasts that swept the shores ,of Delaware — now exulting 
soars aloft, beating with strong pinions the surrounding air; 
and from North to South is heard her voice — Americans ! 
You shall be free ! 



98 HISTORY OF THE DELAWARE STATE 

From Princeton, our Hero crosses the country and takes 
post on the commanding heights near Morristown, here 
collecting and concentrating the scattered hopes of his 
country, he bounds the ravages and represses the triumphs 
of the enemy ; from here, by well-timed movements, by 
judicious marches and counter-marches of his main army, 
he eludes a general engagement, while he fortifies the im- 
portant passes of the North-River and covers the country. 
By the most prudent and well-directed applications of the 
principles of the Petit-Guerrc, he annoys the posts and em- 
barrasses the movements of the enemy's army, and by small 
detachments and parties, cutting off their supplies, he at 
length forces them to abandon every position they had 
taken in the interior of the country and shelter themselves 
in New York, under the protection of their fleets and strong 
fortresses. 

The enemy now change the scene of action, foiled in 
their attempts to cut off the communication of the northern 
from the southern States. 

A blow must be struck at our vitals. Ignorant, they are 
yet to learn that the strength and spirit of a true republic 
is not confined to one part, but exists in every part. 

They land in force near Elkton, in Maryland, and advance 
with hasty marches towards Philadelphia. — Our valiant and 
prudent Chief, with his small but heroic army, opposes their 
passage across the Brandywine. 

At Chadd's-ford, the battle rages. There the Britons are 
made to feel the force of the American cannon and the 
river is dyed with blood. Our hardy veterans, trained and 
inured to battle, and rendered superior to misfortune and 



SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI. 99 

defeat by the great example of their Chief, who was every- 
where present, from morning until the sun began to sink in 
the west, gallantly defended the passes of the river. Out- 
flanked at length by superior numbers, they are compelled 
to retreat, and victory is to the Britons. — But it was a vic- 
tory, such as Washington sometimes would give them ; a 
victory attended with all the evils of a defeat and which 
only facilitated their ruin. 

Philadelphia, contrary to the opinions of short-sighted 
politicians, who are not unfrequently loud and numerous, is 
left undefended by our prudent Chief — he is suspected, he 
is censured ; as if the fate of our country depended on the 
possession of that city. Conscious of his integrity, his 
elevated soul, superior to the clamors of the moment, 
adheres with the dignity of wisdom and the firmness of 
probity, to that line of conduct which his sagacious and 
penetrating mind had discovered to be best ; leaving to time 
and future circumstances, to justify it. 

The British enter peaceably into the city ; but they have 
hardly more than tasted the pleasures and luxuries of this 
American Capua, when Washington proves how fallacious 
were the hopes they had formed from the possession of it, 
and how very uncertain was the tenure by which they 
held it. 

The thunder of the American cannon bursts on the fields 
of Germantown, and is reverberated thro' the streets of 
Philadelphia. Our gallant veterans, inspired by the heroic 
ardor and directed by the wisdom of their Washington, 
carry death into the ranks of the British army on the points 
of their bayonets. The Britons fall — they fly — their camp 



ofCj 



IOO HISTORY OF THE DELAWARE STATE 

is stormed and the American ensigns wave in it triumphant. 
Confusion and despair preside in the hosts of Britain and 
the city is about to be abandoned. A considerable number 
of the fugitives, pressed in their flight, throw themselves 
hastily into a house, strongly posted. This retards the 
successful progress of our hitherto victorious army and the 
Britons have time to rally. Dreadful was the conflict. 
Now the peculiar felicity of the military genius of our Hero, 
which ranks him above all the military leaders who have 
preceded him in point of time, is brilliantly exemplified. 

Victory may be purchased too dear, and the honor of the 
field cannot compensate for the effusion of blood which may 
be lavished to obtain it. Tho' victory is certain, his cool 
and comprehensive mind views at a glance, the sacrifice it 
requires. 

He orders a retreat, leaving the ground to the Britons, 
and returns really victorious, with little comparative loss, to 
his original position near White-marsh. 

The sanguine expectations of the enemy from the pos- 
session of Philadelphia being effectually blasted, and awed 
by the evidently superior talents of Washington and the 
experienced valor of his now veteran army, they abandon 
the city in haste and march thro' New-Jersey, in order to 
take shelter again in New- York. Our Hero, attentive to 
all their movements, is soon upon their rear ; they are 
harassed and offer him battle on the plains of Monmouth. 
Our gallant veterans rush to the charge, — the field and 
victory are ours. 

Here Washington establishes a fact, till then denied in 
the British, and even doubted by some in the American 



SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI. IOI 

army : that is — that the grenadiers of Britain could be 
made to tremble and fly at the gleam of the American 
bayonet. A fact that I trust you, my fellow-citizens, whose 
military appearance bespeaks you prepared for the defence 
of your country, will, if occasion should offer, amply verify. 

Nay, were it extended, and instead of the grenadiers of 
Britain, if we say the chosen troops of combined Europe, 
should they dare to invade our peaceful soil, shall be made 
to tremble and fly at the gleam of the American bayonet. 

Farther to trace the sublime paths of honor and virtue 
in which our much-beloved Hero and Statesman trode; 
to delineate with precision the actions of his life ; to re- 
capitulate his many and distinguished services in peace 
and in war, in the field and in the cabinet ; and to decorate 
them with that glowing and elegant language which the 
subject demands ; comports not either with my leisure or 
my abilities. 

To many of you, my Brethren and Fellow-Citizens, it 
would be unnecessary. You have been eye-witnesses and 
partakers of his misfortunes and his triumphs. You have 
seen him in those awful and critical situations that try 
men's souls. You have seen him terrible to the enemies 
of your country in the field of battle — calm and unmoved, 
sustaining the severest pressure of misfortune and defeat 
— humane and modest when triumphant — unassuming in 
the retired shades of private citizenship ; and pre-eminently 
wise, great and good when invested with the presidential 
authority. No force of eloquence, or power of description, 
can make a deeper impression of his worth than is already 
imprinted on your minds. 



102 HISTORY OF THE DELAWARE STATE 

But could I command the eloquence of a Demosthenes, 
and the extensively sublime imagination of a Milton, I 
would stamp the bright images of our Hero's character 
upon the hearts of my younger fellow-citizens, the bloom- 
ing hopes of our country. I would enforce them to ad- 
mire, to imitate and plant his virtues in their minds. As 
it is, let it suffice that I have endeavored, with a rude pencil 
and unsteady hand, to sketch some of the most prominent 
features of his character and touch some of the stronger 
outlines of his military actions. 

I leave the subject in able hands. Our country, which 
has produced a Washington, has not failed to produce 
orators, poets and historians, who with a grand and steady 
pencil can draw the strong as well as the fine outlines of 
his life and finish it with all that bold and elegant relievo 
it so eminently merits. 

When I consider the character, the conduct and the 
fortunes of our late illustrious Chief — when I revolve in 
my mind the series of events which have happened within 
the last twenty years ; and thence take a retrospect into 
the volumes of antiquity, I cannot avoid fancying I hear 
a voice resounding from the deep abyss of time in which 
nations and ages, now no more, are plunged ; and in 
accents loud enough to be heard and in language too plain 
to be misunderstood, savins: : 

Citizens of America ! 

National happiness and national virtue, are inseparably 
connected. — Despair not that your Washington is no 
more : — Continue to deserve the favor of Heaven. Adore 
the Almighty — venerate and encourage religion. 



SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI. 103 

Let the maxims and virtues of Washington be your 
standards of political truth and worth. 

Patronize merit — honor virtue. Place a generous con- 
fidence, worth}- of true republicans, in those whom you 
appoint to rule over you. 

Thus, tho' your Washington is dead, his virtues will 
live. They will rise with the occasion for them, and be 
displayed in the field, in the senate and in the cabinet. 

But, as if unforewarned by the past and blind to the 
future, you forget the Almighty Hand that raised you to 
your present state of national exaltation ; if wealth usurps 
the place of honor, and servility of merit ; if party becomes 
the standard of political truth and worth ; if the avenues 
to public confidence and public gratitude cannot be entered, 
without "wading thro' the mire of vile dependence," or by 
bribing the avarice or the appetites of those appointed to 
guard them : 

Dread then the coming storm — then deplore, not only 
the loss of your Washington, but, what is more to be 
lamented, the absence of his virtues and the loss of the 
favor of Heaven. 

Be virtuous, be united, I conjure you. This done, tho' 
storms from without may threaten ; tho' mines within may 
agitate ; by neither will the solid edifice of your national lib- 
erty and happiness be destroyed. The boasted diplomatic 
skill of France, the more secret skill of Britain, or the com- 
bined force and skill of Europe, may be equally unregarded. 
Thus you will transmit to posterity, unimpaired, those 
exalted rights and privileges for which your much-lamented 
Washington fought and toiled. 



104 HISTORY OF THE DELAWARE STATE 



APPENDIX L. 



The Delaware State Society of the Cincinnati was form- 
ally reorganized by the descendants of the original members, 
with others, in Wilmington, Delaware, on the twenty-second 
day of February, 1895, in conformity with the preliminary 
steps taken on November the sixth, 1894. The meeting 
was held in the room of the United States District Court, 
Sixth and King Streets, and was presided over by the 
Hon. Leonard Eugene Wales, Judge of the United States 
District and Circuit Courts for Delaware; Mr. John Osgood 
Piatt acting as Secretary. After a permanent organization 
had been effected, and the credentials of all applicants for 
membership were carefully and thoroughly examined by a 
committee appointed by the chair for that purpose, and 
favorably reported on, the following officers were elected to 
serve until the first regular stated meeting of the Society, 
on the fourth day of July following : 

Hon. Leonard Eugene Wales, President. 
Colonel M'Lane Tilton, U.S.M.C, Vice-President. 
Haslet Wylie Crawford, Secretary. 
John Osgood Piatt, Assistant Secretary. 
Philip Howell White, Treasurer. 
Samuel Seay Roche, Assistant Treasurer. 
, Chaplain. (No election.) 




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i 740-1 788. 



PORTRAIT IN POSSESSION OF I 



SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI. 105 

In addition to the foregoing eldest descendants and rep- 
resentatives of original members of the Society, the Hon. 
James William Latimer, James Dobbin McNeill, Charles 
Breck Adams, Newell Kirkwood Kennon, William Henry 
Kirkpatrick, Daniel Edgerly Smith Pope, Samuel Price 
Jaquett, Thomas David Pearce, and Calvin Smith Bennett 
were also elected as members, while several others equally 
qualified have since applied to be added to the Roll. 

General John Meredith Read, formerly United States 
Minister to Greece, and great-grandson of Hon. George 
Read, President and Chief-Justice of Delaware and signer 
of the Declaration of Independence; also great-grand- 
nephew of Colonel James Read and Captain Thomas 
Read of the Continental Navy (the latter being an original 
member of the Pennsylvania Cincinnati, but who left no de- 
scendants) ; Mr. Henry Geddes Banning, President of the 
Delaware National Bank, and only grandson of Captain 
Henry Geddes, likewise of the Continental Navy; as well as 
Captain Henry Hobart Bellas, United States Army (retired), 
the representative in the eldest line of descent of Lieutenant 
John Rudolph of the Pennsylvania Line and also of Cap- 
tains John and Michael Rudolph of Major Henry Lee's 
Partisan Legion of the Continental Establishment, were 
likewise, by reason of their services (though all eligible to 
hereditary membership under the provisions of the original 
Institution), for the present elected honorary members of 
the Society. 

The following delegates were also selected to represent 
the Society and to prepare and present its application for 
recognition by the General Society at the latter's next 



106 HISTORY OF THE DELAWARE STATE 

triennial meeting in Philadelphia, Pa., on the second 
Wednesday in May, 1896: Hon. Leonard Eugene Wales; 
Colonel M'Lane Tilton, U. S. Marine Corps ; Hon. James 
William Latimer ; Philip Howell White (late Engineer, U. S. 
Navy) ; and Captain Henry Hobart Bellas, U. S. Army. 

The Society directed a circular letter to be prepared and 
forwarded to the Secretary of the General Society and to 
the Secretaries of the other State Societies respectively, 
notifying them of the revival of the Delaware Society in 
accordance with the requirements of the General Society, 
and which have all been carefully complied with.* 

A committee was appointed to prepare a code of by-laws 
and an order of business for the government of the Society, 
which will meet annually on its anniversary days, viz. : the 
twenty-second of February, the fourth of July, and the 
sixth of November, unless otherwise directed. 

A board of trustees was also designated to superintend, 
under the direction of a Standing Committee, the finances of 
the Society, which are in a flourishing condition, the entire 
original fund of fifteen hundred and thirty-five dollars 
having been restored by the members. The old National 
Bank of Delaware (originally organized in 1795, and stated 
to have been at one time the place of deposit of the former 
Society), was designated as the depository of the present 
Society's funds. 

No other than the proper descendants or representatives 
of original members — excepting the designated ratio of hono- 

* This circular letter, under date of May 10, 1895, has since been forwarded 
by the Secretary as directed. 



SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI. 1 07 

rary members as directed by the original Institution, — 
have, in strict conformity with the provisions and spirit 
thereof, been admitted to membership in the Society. 

A committee having been appointed to take steps to have 
the Society incorporated by act of Legislature, in order to 
secure the proper recognition of its legal status by the State 
of Delaware, a charter of incorporation, on the application 
of the representatives of thirteen of the original members, 
was procured from the General Assembly (dated the twen- 
tieth day of March, 1895), recognizing and constituting the 
present Society the lawful successor of the original one.* 

The proper representatives of Colonels John Haslet and 
David Hall; of Lieutenant- Colonel Charles Pope; of 
Majors John Patten, Daniel Jenifer Adams, and Robert 
Kirkwood ; of Surgeons James Tilton, Henry Latimer, and 
George Monro ; of Captains Peter Jaquett, William McKen- 
nan, Edward Roche, and David Kirkpatrick; of Lieutenants 
Caleb Prew Bennett, John Piatt, and Stephen McWilliam ; 
— all original members, — are already borne upon the roll of 
the Society, while others, as their claims are carefully 
investigated and approved, will be added at the Society's 
future successive meetings, if found worthy. 

Among these it is hoped and probably will be included 
the representatives of Majors Joseph Anderson, Nathaniel 
Mitchell, and James Moore; of Captains Harry Duff, 
George Purvis, and Thomas Kean ; of Surgeons Reuben 
Gilder, Ebenezer Augustus Smith, and James Jones ; of 
Lieutenants John Vance Hyatt and Thomas Anderson. 

* See Appendix M. 



108 HISTORY OF THE DELAWARE STATE 

The gallant Captain Allen McLane is already most 
worthily represented in the Maryland Society by its Presi- 
dent, who is likewise the Vice-President-General and acting 
President- General of the General Society. 

Careful and patient research has been certainly well 
repaid in the results now manifested, and let us hope that, 
with this successful revival and reorganization of the Del- 
aware State Society of the Cincinnati by the representatives 
of such a large proportion of the original members and 
its early recognition by the General organization, it may 
continue to be for all future time as it has been in the 
past an honor to both the Order and its native State. 





1 749- lS 33- 



i 



SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI. 1 09 



APPENDIX M. 



An Act to incorporate the " Delaware State Society 
of the Cincinnati." 

Whereas : Upon the dissolution of the American Revo- 
lutionary Army in the year 1783, in cantonment on Hud- 
son's River, State of New York, the officers of the said 
Army, then and there present, did associate themselves into 
a " Society of Friends" and adopted the name of " The 
Society of the Cincinnati," for the purpose of promoting 
and preserving the rights and liberties of their country and 
to cherish the union of the States ; and also for mutual aid 
and beneficence among themselves and their descendants, 
as set forth in the original Institution of the said Society. 

And Whereas : Colonel David Hall and other officers 
in the Delaware Line of said Army, did, in accordance 
with the provisions of the hereinbefore recited Institution, 
formally establish and organize themselves into the " Dela- 
ware State Society of the Cincinnati," and the hereinafter 
named lineal male descendants and representatives of the 
said David Hall and the other original members of the 
said State Society, being desirous of reviving and reorgan- 
izing the same, therefore : — 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 
tives of the State of Delaware in General Assembly met, 
(two-thirds of each branch concurring therein) ; — 



IIO HISTORY OF THE DELAWARE STATE 

Section i. That Leonard Eugene Wales, M'Lane Tilton, 
James William Latimer, Philip Howell White, Charles 
Breck Adams, Daniel Edgerly Smith Pope, Newell Kirk- 
wood Kennon, James Dobbin McNeill, Haslet Wylie Craw- 
ford, William Henry Kirkpatrick, Samuel Seay Roche, 
John Osgood Piatt and Samuel Price Jaquett and their 
successors, being the descendants and representatives afore- 
said, be and they are hereby ordained and declared to be 
a body corporate under the name and style of the 

" Delaware State Society of the Cincinnati." 

Section 2. The said corporation shall be able and capable 
to sue and be sued, implead and be impleaded in all courts 
of law and equity, and shall be capable in law, to purchase, 
receive, take, hold and enjoy any lands, tenements, heredita- 
ments, rents, leases, stocks, goods, chattels or money which 
may be devised, given or conveyed to it, or which may 
come to its hands, by or from the payment of fees, fines or 
dues from the members of the said corporation, and also to 
grant, alien, sell, bestow, convey and assign or transfer the 
same and to do all acts concerning the same, which an indi- 
vidual owner thereof can do in law, by the name and title 
aforesaid, and shall have a common seal, with power to 
break, alter and renew the same at pleasure. 

Section 3. That the members of the said corporation 
shall have power to appoint or elect such officers as they 
deem proper and necessary to conduct the affairs and 
manage the business of said corporation, and from time to 
time, make, establish and put into execution, agreeable to 
the provisions of this Act, such by-laws, rules and regula- 
tions as they shall deem necessary and desirable for the 



SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI. Ill 

good government of the said corporation and its proper 
business; provided, that such by-laws, rules and regulations, 
be not contrary or repugnant to the laws and Constitutions 
of the United States or of this State. 

Section 4. That said corporation shall have power to 
hold and possess lands, tenements, goods, chattels, rights 
or credits, or any other property, the clear yearly income of 
which shall not exceed the sum of five thousand dollars 
($5000), and provided that nothing in this Act shall be 
construed to authorize said corporation to exercise any 
banking powers. 

Section 5. This Act shall be deemed and taken to be a 
private Act. 

Henry H. McMullen, 

Speaker of the House of Representatives, 



Passed at Dover, 
March 20, 1895. 



W. T. Watson, 

Speaker of the Senate. 



112 HISTORY OF THE DELAWARE STATE SOCIETY. 



STATE OF DELAWARE. 

[ARMS OF DELAWARE.] 

Executive Department. 

I, Nathaniel B. Smithers, Secretary of State of the 
State of Delaware, do hereby certify that the above and 
foregoing is a true and correct copy of an Act to incorpo- 
rate the " Delaware State Society of the Cincinnati," passed 
at Dover, March 20, 1895. 

In Testimony whereof I have hereunto 

set my hand and official seal at Dover, 

[seal.] this fifth day of April in the year of our 

Lord one thousand eight hundred and 

ninety-five. 

N. B. Smithers, 

Secretary of State. 

State of Delaware, ) 
New Castle County. J 

Recorded in the Recorder's Office at Wilmington, in 
Private Act Record E, Vol. I., page 595, etc., the sixth day 
of April, A.D. 1895. 

[seal.] Witness my hand and official seal. 

C. C. Montgomery, 

Recorder. 



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